


the iron giant but it's armin/eren and a lot longer

by naryasflame



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Best Friends, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Size Difference, Titan!Eren, modern i guess but not really there's still like. titans. so dark fantasy. I Guess, rated t for cursing and minor violence and uhhhhh that Gay Shit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-19
Updated: 2019-03-01
Packaged: 2019-03-21 00:27:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 64,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13729254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/naryasflame/pseuds/naryasflame
Summary: the title says it all reallyArmin finds a fantastical creature hidden in the woods by his shared home with his adoptive caretaker and befriends it. Soon he finds himself teaching the giant, a titan, in hopes of introducing this amazing discovery to the rest of humanity.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi
> 
> I'm more of an artist than a writer and literally have no idea how to write but whatever
> 
> I haven't watched or read snk/aot in a real long time, so I have just season 1 and the good first half of the manga in my head but Whatever
> 
> This is a surprise gift for MY best friend who I love with all my heart and he'll always be my Armin. I hope this is a good surprise, love ya you big gay <3
> 
> I'm not sure how to format the notes, but for now I'll say that  
> \- please watch the iron giant........ Thanks (it's really good. listen it's so good)  
> \- uhhhh if u have watched the iron giant then there's a few changes Obviously  
> \- decisions and changes I made i guess will be explained at the end
> 
> ok here it is i guess. whatever the Fuck this is

 

> _Years have passed since a great destruction swept across the world, a horrific war amongst the human race. Humanity barely survived, but still, they survived. History before the great war was lost, and humanity is only now barely starting to thrive from their immesurable losses all those 100 years ago. A few nations manifested from the ashes of the past, and now with almost flourishing and thriving towns and cities, humanity is at peace._
> 
> _However, this world is different than what it once was. The shadows of the past creep into the minds of the human race, paranoia and fear is becoming humanity's greatest enemy once more. Many look to their soldgiers and leaders to protect from them from the invisible threat that could possibly be lurking. Humanity now is ready to attack what they do not understand, they will not risk their survival._
> 
> _The Walls is a nation part of this new, scarred Earth. Through the ruin of war and through the progress of post-war, it like many other people, picked up the pieces left behind and rebuilt a world for humanity to live happily in. War is over, and peace is here. The fear still lingers, but the people are happy. The government is sound and for the most part, the people trust in The Walls to protect and defend._
> 
> _But there's a dark side to this progress, they will tell you._
> 
> _The Walls is a massive nation with 3 large cities, and many smaller towns. For a civilization after a war that almost wiped out the human race, this is quite the size. They have nothing to fear except for those elsewhere who they claim want what The Walls have. They look towards foreign lands with cautious, unwavering eyes. The paranoia of war looms over them everyday. Still, their pride as a nation is firm, and they are confident that nothing can hurt them, for their only threat can come from outside._

  
\---

In the deep hours of the night, a lonely vehicle drove through the relentless and heavy rainstorm. Barely able to see the road, the driver grumbled in frustration and leaned further forward in an attempt to see better. If anyone were with him at the time, they would smell the liquor on his breath. A late night out with a dozen too many beers and then finally he found himself in this situation, foolishly taking the risk of driving while under the influence all while the rain pummeled mercilessly against the earth.

The road is old and cracked, and towering pines line either side of it. The forest they belonged to dark and looming. It was just a couple of miles more to reach the small town; the intoxicated driver was confident he could make it, even in this storm. It wasn't the first time he'd drove under a "minor buzz" and it probably wouldn't be the last.

He sped up a bit, just wanting to hurry and get out of the awful storm. He glanced in his rear-view mirror, catching something in the air, bright green and vivid. It grew brighter and bigger, as quick as lighting but ten times more blinding (and deafening). His eyes went from their sudden wide shock to tightly closed in half a second, shielding himself from the bright green light. He didn't notice his car veering off to the left of the road and then yelled a curse in pain from the impact of a tree he just crashed his car into, body thrashing forward against the wheel.

With a groan, he opened his door and stumbled out. He was too dazed from both the booze and car crash to really care about the rain currently soaking him to the bone within a matter of seconds. He peered out towards the road that was behind his car, wiping at his eyes and holding his arm against his forehead to try and keep rain from blurring his vision any further.

A few seconds passed, and he was still met with the empty blackness and unending rain. The man was close to forgetting about the strange encounter and get back to the crashed vehicle he now had to deal with. But then, there was a rumble from the ground, like a very small earthquake.

"What the fuck..?" He gazed into the darkness more. There it was again, and then again, and again. The rumbling was uneven, and getting stronger. The man looked at the ground in confusion, watching the specs of asphalt bounce from the impacts. He looked back up towards the darkness. He grew more and more nervous, not understanding what was going on.

Then, the first thing he saw emerging from the darkness were two, very _very_  high up, green eyes. The brightness of them was uncanny. The man stared at the hulking creature that was coming closer towards him, its form barely visible in the dark and heavy rain. It was, however, enough to snap him out of his wide, horrified stare and into a rushed flee towards his car. He opened the car door, not shutting it as he turned the keys to ignition, praying that the car would start even with the crash damage. With no luck, he turned back to look at the giant creature, still coming closer with its loud steps slightly shaking the earth around it.

  
The fear-stricken man gave up on trying to start the busted vehicle, and with a long and horrified scream, he bolted. He ran as fast as he could, breath heavy and eyes beginning to well up with tears. He took no time to gaze back at the giant, too focused on his survival.

  
Unknown to the man, the large creature stared at him for a few moments before wandering back into the dense trees of the forest.

 

\---

 

Shiganshina is a small town in the nation of The Walls that's rather unremarkable. A simple town with little more than the bare minimum to define itself a town rather than a barren village. There was a library, a few diners and gas stops for the cars, a scrapyard, a couple of schools, a church, offices for various businesses (and the mayor's), and of course the houses and a single train station. It was a wonder why the train station even existed. Why anyone would stop by such a drab and dreary town was beyond anyone's knowledge, and in particular, a young boy who lived there. A young boy with a very active imagination and a shy but adventurous spirit.

Said boy was walking down the street towards a small diner with a little book and box held securely in his arm. His blond, chin-length hair bounced slightly from the quick steps of his feet. Within a few more short breaths from exasperation and a swing of the glass entry door, he scanned the restaurant for his caretaker.

"Armin." Called a calm voice from over the long diner counter. He headed towards the owner with his book and closed box.

"Hi Mikasa, sorry I'm late." He said as he placed his belongings on top of an empty stool, still catching his breath.

"I thought you were supposed to call me mom now." She said in what seemed to be a serious and stern tone, though anyone who really knew her would know that's just how she always was, even when joking like this.

"You're still just like a really, _really_ old big sister." Armin teased back. A glare was pointed back at him from his remark.

"I can and will gound you. Go take a seat, I'll bring you your lunch in a few minutes. I have a few customers to deal with." She said, obviously abusing her authority as his adoptive parental guardian. Her subtle smile could be missed by most, but not Armin.

"Alright mom." He laughed and took his things with him as he sat in a booth not too far from the diner's counter, just catching the eye roll Mikasa gave him before going back to her duties.

It had been a few years since it was just them living together, and yet they still poked fun at one another in the way of Mikasa being called his basically mom.

Armin opened the book he brought with him, a zoological book he had borrowed from the library. It wasn't his usual choice, as he took enjoyment from reading fantasy and adventure mostly. However, a book like this was important after catching the... contents in the box beside him. He glanced over to Mikasa, careful to be subtle, and once he saw she was still preoccupied with other tasks, he lifted the lid of the box that held a very small reptile inside. Smiling at the tiny creature (it was extremely cute), he looked through the book he had picked from the library and tried to find the species in question. He honestly didn't know what he'd gain from this, other than knowing what the hell this lizard was, but when you have no friends and just stories to entertain you, learning about lizards was just another thing you got joy from in such a dull, uneventful town.

He continued searching for a match, growing a little anxious about Mikasa finding him keeping a lizard in a flimsy box, and more importantly, keeping it where she worked. It wasn't like he was going to keep it, he was set on putting it back where he found it after he finished his research. Armin just liked animals and what the world had to offer in general, and the tiny thing had just been _sitting_ there. He didn't know when he'd have another chance, so he took it, found a box, and located a book from the library to help him for today's "quest of discovery" (it sounded cool in his head).

Glancing once more to the lizard to try and compare it to the book, he was filled with sudden dread as his eyes grew wide. It was gone. The lizard. The lizard was gone. There was just an empty box with no lizard. Meaning, the lizard is now somewhere in this diner where Mikasa worked, and nothing in this world is scarier than a pissed off Mikasa. Nothing. Of course, he didn't want to cause her any trouble either, he felt guilty enough in general as it was, but he'd be lying if he said avoiding her wrath wasn't his priority right now.

Quickly and as subtly as he could manage, he scanned the area for the critter. Armin headed towards a booth a few feet away from his own, where he was sure it would've gone. A woman was sitting there, long reddish-brown hair tied back in a ponytail with a rather large order of food in front of her. She seemed to be in a trance as she stuffed down the meal. He stood there in front of her, a little awkwardly.

"Ma'am.. um.. excuse me?" Armin asked nervously. The woman looked up from her plate, mid-chew, and stared for a few seconds before finally swallowing.

"Uh. Kid. I'm kind of in the middle of a meal," was the response he got from her.

"Of course! Um, it's just..." Armin began to ramble nervously. "I found this, uh, lizard... and it kind of just escaped and, well, now I have to catch it again before I get in trouble so... well, um, I think its under your table-" He continued to ramble on, obviously nervous from the mess he felt like he'd made.

The woman was oddly laid back about the whole thing, not really offended despite the annoyed look she had from being interrupted from her meal. She laughed, "Whoah kid calm down. It's fine! I'll get your freaky pet back. The name's Sasha by the way, Sasha Blouse."

"Thanks a bunch, you're really helping me out big t-" Before he could say more, both he and Sasha's attention were brought to a group of older men sitting at the booth across from them, one of them recalling an event the day before.

"I'm telling you the truth damn it, its the craziest thing I've ever fukin' seen!" The man telling the story was very animated, waving his arms around with enthusiasm. He also stunk of alcohol. "The fucker was at least like 60 or 70 feet high, and glowing eyes! That's all I saw, after that I bolted, no way I'm being a giant's fukin snack, hell no," he continued, much to the amusement of the other men sitting around. Sasha and Armin just kept watching, the latter being more and more intrigued by the story.

"I swear man, I should've bolted the second it hit earth, and I swear to god that's what happened. It was like a bolt of lightning and then BAM. There it was. Straight from space I'm telling you, and it's still out there. This creature was sent to get us. Maybe from Mars or even one of the foreign nations! T-to eat us or invade us or-or something real sinister. Who knows what's next man-"

"What's next? If it's you Hannes, it's probably a trip to the bar!" One of the other men quipped, followed by the others in the group laughing. The man, Hannes, looked somewhat humiliated.

"Hey. I saw it too." Sasha suddenly retorted.

The group fell silent for a moment before the speaker said,"...And I rest my case." The man laughed again, followed by the others.

Sasha scoffed and waved them off, mumbling something to herself as she turned back to her plate and Armin. Armin looked at her with wide, excited eyes. "Did you really see something like that? What if it really is a creature from Mars, or some other planet! Is it really that big-" He began to say.

"Sorry kid but I didn't actually see anything, I just don't want to see anyone get picked on, even the crazies." She said. Armin felt a little disappointed (and a bit embarrassed over his naive excitement), but before he could say anything else, Mikasa walked over.

"Is everything alright here?" Mikasa, placing a hand on his shoulder as she looked over to Sasha. She was maybe a bit too protective over Armin.

Sasha suddenly pulled a strange expression, like she was very, very uncomfortable.

"no. YES. I mean. Yes, all good, I'm good, he's good, we're all good. I'm Sasha." She said with what seemed like a lot of struggle. Her fists clenched tightly on either side of her plate.

Mikasa elected not to question the odd behavior and dragged her gaze back to the young boy. "Armin, it's almost time for my break, get your lunch and head home ok?"

"I will, right after I'm done talking to..?"

"SASHA."

"Sasha." He forced a smile back to Mikasa. She raised an eyebrow but said no more. She walked away once again attending to her job.

As Armin watched her walk away, he felt a firm hand grasp his wrist on the table.

"I found your lizard." Sasha said in low, rushed voice. Something was profoundly causing her distress.

"You did! Th-" Armin began, only to be shortly cut off and pulled closer to her.

"It's in my pants man. Crawlin' up my leg. I'm trying not to freak out here-" she continued whispering.

"Don't freak out! Mikasa's gonna kill me if she-"

"You call your mom by her first name? That's kinda messed up-"

"She's not my mom! Well, kinda? I mean-"

"Listen I'm-I'm sorry kid," Sasha said so quickly, he had little time to react to her suddenly standing up and then, to his horror-

Sasha called out to the restaurant, announcing,"I'd like to apologize in advance for this!" Then, just as quickly, she unzipped the front of her dark pants. A Series of scandalized gasps began; both from the unzipped pants and the 4-legged reptile that fell out and scampered swiftly up and across tables. Shrill yells were heard, and plates were tossed and shattered as the creature made its escape. Somewhere in the back of Armin's mind, he was glad to see the lizard make it safely out, but currently, he was staring at the disaster he brought into existence. He knew Mikasa was going to have it in for him now.

Said person was standing by him and Sasha, arms crossed, and face horrifically stern and without emotion. Sasha looked at her, laughing very nervously and said,"Uh. Could I have this to go?"

Armin just stood there, not knowing what to do other than follow Sasha's actions and give Mikasa his own nervous grin.

 

\---

 

After the disaster from earlier that day, Armin wanted nothing more than to just get lost in one of his books, or maybe a bad movie that didn't take much to focus on. Not only did he cause Mikasa a lot of shit to deal with, but he also still felt extremely disappointed about the pseudo-alien invader, and maybe a little foolish too. Of course there wasn't any alien or giant creature or whatever, and being practically an adult now, he should've known better than to get excited about the mere mention of a mysterious being (especially from a drunk). Still, it was almost a dream come true, something fantastic that could've happened to him. His very own adventure. He sighed, continuing to stay lost in thought before being brought back to reality by the ringing of the house phone. He walked over to the kitchen and picked it up.

"...Hello?"Armin answered, still not used to answering the phone. He wished he wasn't so awkward around people, at least so he could properly answer the phone.

"It's Mikasa." the voice from the other line said.

"Oh. Hi Mikasa, I'm s-"

"No, I'm sorry, I have to work late again." She began, a twinge of guilt settled in Armin's stomach. "And don't blame yourself. It's not your fault; a few shattered plates is nothing. Someone just called out again," She continued. She really did know him well.

"Ok..."Armin replied.

"Just promise me no late shows or junk food. Get to bed on time, understand?"

Well, she knew him well sometimes.

"Yeah of course, no problem," Armin said, looking over at the container that held cookies and other sweets.

"Goodnight, I love you." Mikasa said.

"You too mom." He joked partially.

After gathering some cookies and a few pillows and blankets, he put together a decent nest of warmth and flicked on the T.V. screen. He sat down in front of it (Mikasa would probably tell him he's too close to the screen) and shoved a cookie in his mouth, enjoying the sweet food and letting his mind get lost in an amusingly lousy horror film, it had terrible acting and cheesy effects, the whole package.

Something about a mutant shrimp from the heavens, or whatever. He wasn't entirely sure. The movie wasn't that intriguing as it was amusing. Plus, part of his mind still lingered to the thoughts of a giant space invader or mythical giant. He kept trying to push the thoughts out of his mind. Watching the bad film and eating more cookies, more focused on the latter.

After a while, the blond began to doze off, even in his sitting position. He tried to shake his head in an attempt to stay awake. He knew he couldn't fall asleep like this unless he wanted to piss Mikasa off a second time today. Though if he were completely honest, she wasn't that mad to begin with. Still, there were crumbs everywhere, and along with the T.V. playing and blanket nest he had made, it wouldn't be hard for her to guess what happened.

_I'll clean up after this movie, its almost done anyway._ He thought to himself.

Then, without warning, **_crash!_**

 Something from upstairs made a noise. Armin gazed towards the stairs, a bit nervous. That was strange. He left the safety of his blanket nest, and he slowly crept towards the stairs, only to have his attention brought back to the T.V. again. The film became distorted with static.

"What?" Armin muttered with a little frustration. He bent down right in front of the screen, banging his fist against it a few times before it went completely black with no signal.

Armin let out a long, frustrated moan. "Not again..." he mumbled. So the crash must have just been the antenna getting loose again. Maybe a bird flew on top of it. With an annoyed sigh, he stood back up and headed outside; he didn't want Mikasa to have to deal with it.

Despite wearing the blue jacket he always wore, the night air was still a bit cold. It was definitely past ten by now, Mikasa would be back within 2 or 3 hours. He climbed up a nearby tree, not trusting the old ladder they had, and hopped onto the roof where the antenna would be. He rubbed his eyes, still feeling pretty tired, and carefully walked along the rooftop. With a yawn he lifted the flashlight he had grabbed on the way out and turned it on, pointing it towards the old antenna.

Except, there was no antenna.

Armin stared, letting out a tiny gasp. He walked over to the base, where the antenna should have been. It looked like it was... ripped off. Armin's mind ran through different explanations for this. A robber maybe, though why you'd trash your target by ripping it off (and destroying the hardware in the process) was unknown to him. He shone the light across the roof, trying to locate the missing object or evidence, and then towards the back of the house. There, he saw part of the wood fence that surrounded the perimeter of his house. A small portion of it, maybe 5 feet in width, was crushed. The wood was splintered and laid against the grass and dirt. Armin moved the flashlight even past that, towards the forest. Even from his place on the roof, he noticed how the trees opened up oddly, forming a path that definitely wasn't there before.

Armin looked on in amazement as well as disbelief, eyes wide. Despite his earlier chastising of himself, he still gave in to his curious mind. "It's real..." He whispered to himself. All earlier doubts about the existence of a mysterious being were shoved away as his excitement grew again. There was still a small part of his mind that told him this could all be a coincidence. After all, there was a significant storm last night. Even so, Armin wanted to find an answer to all this. This was becoming his own small adventure. Worse case scenario, he'll have found nothing except the broken antenna; he could at least recover that. He took this opportunity, and with determination in his eyes, he rushed back down and into his house.

He ran up to his room, grabbing an old BB gun from under his bed. Mikasa got it for him a while back, not comfortable enough to give him a real one but still insisting he should have something to keep him safe. He knew she had at least one real gun in her room, but she kept it locked. It was also possible there were more hidden elsewhere, he really wouldn't put it past her. He was fine with his own though; it was just to keep him safe, not kill something. He never even used the thing, and didn't really want to either, he wasn't fond of combat (except maybe the ones he read in stories). 

He placed the gun down on his bed, the letters spelling "ARMIN ARLERT" displayed on the stock of the gun. He grabbed some duct tape after rummaging through his drawer and wrapped his flashlight around the barrel, taping it tight. That way he could have the gun at the ready and still have light without needing an extra hand to hold it.

After tying up his shoes, he ran downstairs and opened the back door of the house, completely forgetting the mess around the T.V.

He stood there for a moment, staring into the dark forest and the new path in the trees.

 Armin took a deep breath and walked toward the dark woods.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well so there's chapter 1? the next couple chapters have already been written, but im proof reading them one by one to upload them one at a time instead of all at once
> 
> I """snuck""" a few quotes from the movie in here for my own enjoyment
> 
> i changed up the diner scene a bit from the original movie. i was trying to think of another way to introduce the characters, their personalities, and the rumor of the giant in the woods, but honestly couldn't figure it out other than following the original scene.
> 
> but the squirrel is a lizard now because u don't need a book to teach u about what a squirrel is!!! but there's at least like. 5 lizards.
> 
> hey why is sasha in the place of dean instead of jean? well because uhhhhhh (this is where i run away leaving behind pictures of mikasa/sasha)
> 
> (except I don't actually own any. I just like sasha and wish there was more stuff with her bc she's really funny)
> 
> ok bye. leave kudos or comments or whatever that'd be cool and let me know of any mistakes that are probably there despite reading through this like 10 times!!!!!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whoah what's up. this chapter is short but that might change or it might not. guess who doesn't know how to format Anything (it's me)
> 
> Armin ventures into the forest to find his antenna and quite possibly something else.

The forest was very dark, and a little frightening. The shapes of the trees looked like shadowy figures to the naked eye, their branches like crooked arms. The barks and branches twisted and turned, and roots were huge and exposed from the ground, easy to trip on. During the day, it was always so nice to see the untamed trees and plants, beautiful even. A perfect place for an adventurous mind to wander free. In the dark, it felt a little more unwelcoming. Every sound was a new source of anxiety. Even the sounds of crickets felt creepy, let alone the rustles coming from the bushes or treetops. The only sound unalarming was the crunch of Armin's footsteps, stepping on countless leaves and bark and other forest debris that covered the ground.

As much as Armin liked the forest, he was never too keen on venturing out this deep into the woods this late at night. He held his BB gun tightly, shining the flashlight toward either side of the new forest path he was following. Though, he quickly realized it barely counted as a path. The trees that previously stood where he was walking were fallen. Meaning, something definitely came through that knocked over this many to create a whole new path. Some trees had fallen across the trail, causing Armin to climb over a few times to continue onwards.

The forest got denser and denser; trees were becoming closer together, meaning more fallen trees appeared as well. Armin was focused entirely, careful of every sound and every shadow he passed. He walked carefully and quietly, hands still gripping the gun tightly. Soon after the forest became dense enough, he stopped and looked forward in awe. It was like a silhouette cut from where the enormous trees once stood, stretching onward like a tunnel. It wasn't clear-cut enough to be certain of an alien invader per se, and to anyone else, it would seem like just another forest clearing. But Armin knew better; he knew this forest, it was right behind his house after all. This wasn't here before. This wasn't natural. Something most certainly caused all these trees to fall over.

Armin gulped and gave himself a determined nod as he marched forward. A few minutes passed, and he saw a faint glow just a little further away.

_The power station... could it be intelligent enough to try and use it? That would explain the stolen antenna..._

It wasn't entirely impossible; the creature could be smart enough to try and communicate with someone (or something). Armin had assumed that a giant creature was going to be, by nature, like an animal and nothing more. He didn't really think about the possibility of an intelligent life-form, which he thought now was silly not to consider. It could even be more intelligent than a human, especially if it figured out a way to use that broken (and rather old) T.V. antenna.

Soon enough Armin made it into the large clearing where the station was; practically hidden in the thick forest. Some cables ran along the telephone poles that continued toward town. The power station itself was almost too bright against the blackness of everything else. Its ever-working machinery disturbed the rest of the quiet, dark forest's atmosphere. It felt out of place. Armin was feeling even more uneasy than before; he really shouldn't be out here.

Regardless, he continued on, turning off the flashlight since the light of the power station was plenty for him to see around him. He looked around, but there wasn't really any sign of activity, let alone the activity of a giant creature. He stepped on something hard and solid compared to the softer grass (now with less debris since there were no trees within 15 feet of the station). Looking down, Armin let out a small gasp; it was his T.V. Antenna. He bent down to examine it closer, trying to find any evidence of a giant alien. He turned it over, also looking to see just how damaged it was. He didn't know what to expect, it was ripped from its base, and he knew there was no saving it now, it was busted. Still, he wondered if it was possible to drag it back home for Mikasa, to at least show her what happened. It was pretty large and heavy though, and Armin wasn't the most confident in his physical strength.

A light breeze rustled the trees, Armin decided to finally close up his jacket for a little extra warmth. Standing still next to the broken antenna, he looked around. Nothing could be seen but black trees against the dark sky. There were no sounds of crickets anymore, nor any sound one would hear from deep within the woods. Only the working machinery from the power station made audible noise, a monotonous sound that played more in the background of thought.

It really was all so odd, his antenna being ripped clean off and brought all the way here. Despite the massive wreckage of forest trees, everything near the power station was completely intact. There was no sign of alien life here, except for maybe the antenna, but that was very little evidence to go on.

Another breeze rustled through the trees behind him, louder this time. Except... wait. A breeze can't just move about a few trees and nothing else; it didn't sound like the wind blowing through either. Armin looked toward the direction of the sound. It was more like-

Before Armin had any more time to think, a tree- no; a creature was moving. It was large, growing in size as it came closer. Armin was in shock, staring with eyes and mouth wide as the hulking shadow came closer, albeit slowly.

Its eyes were the first thing to be visible, a vivid green even in the dark night. But then the darkness left it, it emerged from the shadows of the trees and was now visible under the glow of the station. Steam, and lots of it, rolled out from its mouth. It was massive, at least 50 feet, and also, still coming closer.

As the alien stepped closer and closer, Armin was just barely able to leave his shocked state and make a run for it. His BB gun was dropped, not really on purpose, but it wasn't going to be any use to him against something that huge anyway. He couldn't believe this was happening. Part of him didn't want to leave. A real, actual alien creature, right there. So many thoughts ran through him, eating away at his mind but all he could focus on was to run. He ran as hard as he could. His survival mode was in overdrive as the giant picked up its speed and chased him. 

Armin's breathing was heavy, almost hurting his throat from the sharp and rapid intake of air. He was close to the other end of the station, opposite of where he (and the alien) came from. He could hear it coming closer; certain its shadow was soon going to be over him. Then, he heard the massive steps stop, and before he was able to turn back at the creature fully, a flash of electricity stunned his vision for a split second.

The creature let out a loud, ear-piercing sound. A mix between a powerful roar and high scream. It was unlike anything Armin had ever heard. It ran into some lines of the power cables that traveled back toward town and was now caught in them. It thrashed around, electricity sparkling like fireworks all around it, only tangling itself more from struggling. The cables tightened around it as it continued to yell in pain. It shook the ground from the stomps it made, causing Armin to balance himself from the small quakes. The creature was struggling more and more with every second.

Armin still stood there, still breathing heavily, not knowing what to think. His mind told him to run, _run while you still have the chance._ Without realizing, his legs were backing him away slowly, away from the giant creature. His eyes were glued to it, and his mouth still hanging open as he breathed in heavy gasps. He turned his head then, towards the forest. His escape to safety. He looked back to the struggling giant. Its thrashing became weaker with every second and it stumbled, massive knees bending to try and keep itself upright. Blood was visible as the wires burned and cut deep into the arms and torso of it; vast amounts of steam came from every wound and cut.

His brows furrowed as he frowned at the creature. He couldn't... he couldn't leave it like this. It was in agony. Armin didn't have the heart to run away now; he wanted to help it... even if it was potentially dangerous. Something told him there was nothing to be afraid of, that this was the right thing. He didn't question it; he didn't want to question it, he needed to help this creature. He frantically looked around, trying to find something that could-

 _There! The power switch!_ Armin bolted towards the large handle switch that was on the side of the station. He grabbed the handle, attempting to pull it down, but it was incredibly difficult. He yelled in frustration -and stress- trying to get the damn lever down in time.

The creature meanwhile had fallen to its knees, eyes twitching as its whole body convulsed from the painful shock. The roars of agony rang in Armin's ears along with the crackling of electric currents.

 Armin tried with all his might, gritting his teeth and eyes finding their way tightly shut. He placed a foot against the wall, trying to give as much force as he could muster to shut the station off, his muscles becoming stretched and painful.

Then it finally snapped down, causing Armin to fall back-first against the ground with a loud grunt. He quickly turned his head toward the creature. The station powered down, all lights and machinery noises fading away. The horrific sparking of electricity and screams of agony stopped. The creature's thrashing ended, as it stayed still, with steam billowing out from the wounds and the mouth. A few more seconds passed, and then it titled backward, falling onto its back with an echoing crash. Armin stumbled to catch himself from falling due to the ground shaking by the large impact. The creature was obviously out cold, or at least Armin hoped it was just in an unconscious state and not something worse.

Armin made his way to where the gargantuan alien lay. It had fallen against some of the nearby trees that circled the whole station. Cautiously, Armin used the knocked over trees to climb and get closer to the large entity. He tried to keep his breathing steady as he crept slowly along one of the downed trees.

It really _was_ large. Not that he could ever doubt that before but, this close to it, Armin took in just how massive it was. It wasn't a giant; the word seemed too small for this... _this._ Whatever it was. _A titan._ That was it, Armin thought to himself. Titan was the right word he felt.

He continued gazing at the titan from his spot on the fallen tree, now close to its head. He hadn't had the chance to think about the titan's features at all really, too focused on running before. It wasn't 60 or 70 feet like Hannes had claimed. If Armin were to guess, he thought the titan was just about 50. Still... it was fucking huge. Armin looked over its body. Oddly enough, the previous injuries were gone. Armin thought maybe the damage wasn't as severe as he thought, that he'd imagined the wounds out of stress. He wouldn't put it past himself.

He continued his examination of the titan. His eyes were still wide even as he furrowed his brow. It was strange... but not in the way one would usually think when it's an alien in question. It wasn't some sickly-skinned or grotesque being he saw and read in sci-fi novels and movies. The body was close to a human. Except for the lack of, well, genitalia. The muscles and skin were also slightly different from a human, though it was hard to tell in the dark. But its face... well it was something.

Armin studied it then, the titan's face. It was mostly made of sharp angles. The nose was long and pointed (a bit crooked too). The chin and cheekbones were also very defined, almost everything on its face was sharp. The jawline was long and defined as well. Strong too. That wasn't the most notable thing though. Above the jawline was a mouth. A mouth that was lipless with no skin to hide its massive set of teeth. No gumline either, it was like the teeth grew out from the skin. The skin itself was pulled tightly around the sets of teeth. Armin tore his gaze from the mouth, still in amazement and shock at every inch of the creature. He looked up to the one feature he did notice from before; the eyes. The bright green eyes from before were closed then. The skin around them was a darker color, almost like a bruise. Its eyes were also sunken in a bit, giving even more dark color around the socket area.

"You're incredible..." Armin breathed out, practically at a loss for words. It really was incredible. Everything that was happening was unbelievable. He didn't know exactly how to react. If he was honest with himself, he was probably more excited than anyone in their right mind should be. But, come on, there was a titan right in front him. A real, actual titan. For once, he didn't feel foolish about himself and his inquisitive nature.

Said nature decided to push him further then. He stood up on the fallen tree he was perched on, and carefully climbed onto the titan's face. He sat down on the nose of the titan. Armin was smaller than most his age as it was, and he looked exceptionally small against a 50-foot titan. He noticed something else about the creature then, now that he was physically touching it. Its skin was hot. The heat of it was seeping through Armin's clothes. It wasn't scalding or even that uncomfortable, but definitely noticeable.

 _The body temperature has to be boiling,_ he thought. He placed his hand firmly against the titan's cheekbone. He confirmed his guess with that as he felt the heated skin. He realized that it would explain the steam that flowed from its mouth earlier. The body was so hot it let out steam, like when Armin would boil water for cooking or tea.

All thoughts were then stopped abruptly. A big, green eye opened and looked right at Armin. The blond let out a yelp from the surprise and stumbled backward. Steam then emerged from behind Armin, a low groan from the titan accompanying it.

Armin scrambled to get on to his feet and off of the titan's face. He tumbled from the fallen tree he was previously on, to another, and then to the ground. While he was stumbling to escape to safety, the titan moved to get back up. Armin could hear it move as he tried to run and get a safe distance away from it. He knew it was standing now. He turned swiftly to face the titan, his feet still taking him backward. He doubted he could outrun something this gigantic.

"Stop!" Armin yelled at the titan. His arms were crossed over his face by instinct, shielding himself. "Please! Stop!" he yelled again. He felt like he was going to choke on air from the gasps he was taking in as breath. He peeked over his arms he crossed over his face. Then he lowered his arms back down. There was no titan before him. Did it... listen to him?

He stared into the now empty space before him, slowly calming his breathing. He was alone now, in the middle of a dark clearing that no longer had the light of the power station.

Looking around, Armin tried to find where the titan was, or where it had gone. He didn't know if he was relieved or disappointed. He decided to head back home, this time taking the actual dirt path that was used to drive up to the station.

He didn't get far, however. Headlights from a car came towards him. _Great, just what I need right now._ How the fuck was he going to explain why he was by a shut down power station with busted cables? Before he could think of what to say, his luck got a little worse. The car was Mikasa's. He stood there by the road, facing his unavoidable fate. The vehicle stopped, and Mikasa came rushing out to him.

"ARMIN! What were you thinking!?" She grabbed his shoulders as she spoke to him. "You know better than to wander off alone at night! You could get hurt!" She was obviously shaken. It was rare to see her display this much emotion (and volume) in her voice. He hated it. He didn't want her to be upset. He felt like this was all his fault.

"I'm... I'm sorry Mikasa..." Armin looked right at her, genuinely sorry for worrying her so much.

Mikasa just pulled him into a tight hug, almost crushing him. "I was so scared... I thought I lost you..." She said softly. Armin hugged her back. He didn't know what else to say. He felt really awful for causing her so much stress. He felt that way a lot, and now especially.

"I'm ok... I-" He started. He decided it wasn't wise to tell her about the titan now. She probably wouldn't believe him and would end up just worrying about him more. He didn't want to put more things on her mind.  
She let go of him, looking at him as she waited for the rest of his sentence. Her shoulder-length black hair was framing her tired and worried face. He had to tell her something.

"I- our antenna is gone... I tried to find it..." He omitted part of the story, but it was still true. She looked at him with fond eyes. Sometimes it was alarming how much like a mother she could be like.

"I know the only reason you know that is because you were watching T.V. too late. And eating junk food." Her voice was light and subtly lined with a teasing tone.

"Oh. Right... uh-" Armin tried to think of an excuse. He was cut off before he could even apologize.

"Listen, it's late. I'm very tired and still a little shaken from wondering where you had gone. I don't want to worry about the antenna or any of that, let's just get home." Mikasa said. He still felt guilty, but he agreed and followed into the car's back seat.

Mikasa started the car and turned it back around towards the way she came. They didn't say anything; a comfortable silence (more or less considering what had happened). As they headed back home, Armin turned his head to look back at the station. He was met with a dark silhouette. His eyes widened, and he caught his breath before he could gasp, careful not to alert Mikasa. The outline could almost be mistaken as just another tree if it wasn't for its more bulky shape. And its eyes. Those bright green eyes stared right back at him as he was driven away. He could see the green eyes move, realizing the titan was tilting its head. Armin smiled.

He'd come back to see the titan again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey
> 
> for a fic that's armin/eren not much of that happened yet so i uploaded this bit of the story sooner than I planned (see: a couple hours after the first chapter) cuz I wanted there to be some interaction between the two


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GET READY FOR
> 
> a lot of character stuff that isn't our main characters. cool. listen i didn't know how else to write it but THATS WHY im uploading chapter 3 and 4 at the same time. chapter 4 has all that Good Stuff so if u really want to just skip ahead go ahead i guess u do u man
> 
> hey i dont know if the setting is clear so btw. the culture and technology is similar to 50's america much like the film; but there's mixes with canon aot stuff. like u kno. a titan. and the war 100 years ago. that kind of stuff.

Armin hated school. There was not a single thing about it that he liked. The classes were boring and tedious to get through. He was naturally curious and inquisitive, and so most of the things he cared about learning were already done on his own time. Anything the school had to offer him was either already learned by himself or things he simply did not care about to dedicate his undivided attention to. Still, he did all the work required to get by and studied when he needed to pass tests and quizzes.

It gave other students and teachers the impression that he was, to put it frankly, just a shy nerd that cared too much about his academic profile. This was of course far from the truth, and it did bother Armin that people thought this about him. Even worse, because he just did his work, he was moved up a grade. That caused even more issues. Some other kids would assume because of his (rather insignificant, if you asked him) achievements in school that he thought he was smarter and better than everyone else and was just another of the bullies' targets. Obviously, he didn't think that stuff at all! He just did the stupid homework; if everyone just did the stupid homework, they could all be moved up a grade and get bullied too.

Today was even worse than usual, because other than the boring classes and tedious schoolwork he usually had to deal with, he was more eager than usual to leave. All he could think of was the titan in the woods. He just wanted to forget class altogether and run straight to the woods where the gigantic creature was still hidden.

Currently, Armin was stuck in his social studies class with a film being projected against the board. It was some awfully-made "educational" movie that was about what to do in case a foreign nation attacked. He guessed it was to ease the ever present wave of paranoia that drifted over the people of The Walls. He didn't think blind fear was ever the approach for anything, but even he had his worries about the stability of everything. People were fearful of the unknown but also trusted their government to take care of them without any doubt. It never sat right with Armin, none of it.

He took his mind off those thoughts, and off the bad film. He was occupying his time with sketching a certain 50-foot alien living in the forest. He had so many questions, so many things he wanted to learn about the titan. He hoped it wasn't hostile. He knew he had no reason to believe so, but something told him that it wouldn't be dangerous. Armin was then brought back out of his thoughts by low voices of other students whispering to each other, careful not to get in trouble by the teacher.

"Did you hear about that old drunk Hannes?" One said. Connie was his name.

"He was raving about some giant alien invading the town." Another responded. This time a freckled boy. Marco was his name, at least he was pretty sure it was.

"He said the thing almost killed him, caused his car to crash and everything," Connie said, voice lined with laughter.

"He's just an old drunk; he needs help," Marco replied. He was also amused but didn't believe the existence of an alien in town.

"Someone should investigate though, imagine if an alien really did come to invade us," whispered Connie.

"There's no fukin alien here." Another voice now, this one belonging to Marco's friend, Jean. The other two turned to him.

"It could be somethin' sent to us by foreign invaders though. Alien or not, the best thing to do is find it and blow it up to hell and back and forget about it." He continued in a slightly sadistic and amused tone. The others laughed along quietly.

Armin scowled to himself, frustrated with his classmates. He wasn't even entirely sure why. He didn't like the assumptions, maybe. The jump to conclusions. And certainly he didn't think blowing up such a discovery was wise. In fact, it was fucking stupid. He tried to ignore the other teens, just focusing on his sketches of the giant man-like creature in the woods and thinking of what to prepare for his trip to the forest.

 

\---

 

Yesterday was a complete embarrassment for Sasha. Sure, she was usually laid back and able to joke around, but yesterday was too much. Having a lizard fall out your pants in front of the whole diner only to then scurry up and across tables, breaking plates and horrifying customers was not ideal. Especially considering that there was a very pretty raven-haired woman who worked there and saw the whole god damn spectacle. A woman who apparently had the power to strike fear into the hearts of any who looked into those stern eyes. It was... pretty cool, actually.

She breathed in, standing just outside of the diner. She had to apologize; she was too scared and embarrassed yesterday that all she did was pay and gather her leftover meal and took off. Plus, she liked the diner. It was the only place in town to get some decent hash browns and fries, and she wasn't about to let those treasures slip from her hands.

She walked in and sat on one of the stools along the long diner table. She waited for the woman she saw yesterday. It shouldn't be too bad. Plus, the kid responsible for the whole thing was her son- or wait, not her son? Her... little brother maybe. Whatever, she was his parental figure in some way, and that should help.

The woman in question appeared from the diner's kitchen soon enough. Her hair was pinned back (to avoid it getting in the way during work, she guessed). She caught Sasha's stare and walked over.

"Hello. Anything I can get you?" She asked. To be honest, she didn't seem the type to be very good at customer service. Her expression didn't even attempt a faked grin as others might, and her voice was still serious in tone.

"Uh... yes actually! But uh..." Sasha started, obviously nervous. She pressed on," Well, you might not remember me, haha, but yesterday-"

"You had a lizard come out of your pants in front of everyone in the diner." Mikasa finished her story for her, voice still even.

"Hah! Yeah that was- that was me alright!" Sasha laughed nervously and stumbled over her words. "Listen..." She took a breath. "I'm... I'm really sorry about yesterday; I didn't mean to cause any trouble."

"Well it wasn't entirely you. I appreciate your kindness towards Armin, at the very least." Mikasa began. "Even if that includes a few smashed plates and flashing the customers with a lizard." If Sasha were sure, she would've sworn the woman had a very subtle lightness to her voice, like she was actually joking.

"Haha yeah..." She fiddled with her hands, briefly looking over at nothing in particular. "He's your... brother?" Sasha guessed, looking back to Mikasa.

The darker-haired woman took a moment to respond. "Not really... I took him in after his grandfather died. He's a close friend, but I'm also his guardian in a way. It's hard to explain. But he's important to me." She put it bluntly like it was the surest thing in the world for her.

Sasha nodded, appreciating the honesty she allowed to give to her. "Well, he didn't bother me at all. He's a good kid, I can tell." She offered a smile to Mikasa.

Mikasa seemed to soften her expression, albeit very slightly. "Yes he is..." Her gaze was brought down as if she was dwelling on something, and then brought back up to the brunette. "So, are you hungry, or did you just come to apologize?"

Sasha's grin grew bigger, all too aware of her stomach's pleading. "Oh man, you have no idea. Any hash browns?" Mikasa nodded a confirmation and headed back towards the kitchen.

In a few minutes, Mikasa returned with a plate of steaming hash browns; crisp and golden. They were fresh, and Sasha visibly drooled over the plate placed in front of her. She took a large fork-full and shoved it into her mouth. She hummed with pleasure; it was delicious (not that there was any doubt there would be).

"Thank you soo much!" She said between the bites.

"It's nothing." The woman replied. After a few seconds, she added, "My name is Mikasa." She shifted a bit, a little awkward. She wasn't used to this sort of thing.

Sasha stopped stuffing her face, looking at cool grey eyes. "Oh! Mikasa..." She thought it was a lovely name, but thought it better not to admit that. "It's nice to properly meet you then, yeah? I'm Sasha."

"I'm aware," Mikasa replied, the subtle lightness in her voice was still there.

"Ahaha, yeah... jeez, I'm surprised I'm still allowed back in. I appreciate it, but, what's a girl like me still bothering you for, huh?" She joked, although only partially. She really didn't want to cause Mikasa any trouble and would have her be honest if she was.

"Well partly because I have the right to refuse service to anyone," Mikasa replied, pointing behind her at the sign that said just that.

This got a laugh out of Sasha; Mikasa had a surprisingly good sense of humor. It was dry and sarcastic, but still there. It was proof that if Mikasa really wanted her gone, she already would have been. Sasha could've sworn she caught a subtle smile from her stoic counterpart.

She couldn't enjoy the company of Mikasa longer than that though, as a man came up and took the seat next to her.

"Ms. Blouse!" The man began. She shared a glance with Mikasa before the latter walked back to the kitchen. She turned her head to the man, who reeked of liquor.

"Oh, Hannes, hi..." She forced a smile.

"I've got someone interested in selling his tractor. I know you're in charge of the scrapyard, so he's waitin' outside. The thing was smashed flat!"

"Oh, uh, yeah I'll take care of that..." She glanced at her plate. It was only halfway done. "Smashed flat huh? What could've done that?" She bought a little more time with conversation and took a few more bites.

"I told you yesterday!" Hannes responded.

"Oh right... the giant alien." She laughed softly to herself, still eating.

"Thanks for believing me, Blouse, I did end up calling someone. They're sending someone all the way from Rose!" Hannes said proudly.

Rose? That was the capital city of The Walls, and where the heads of the government resided. Did Hannes of all people really get a government official to come all the way here over a drunken illusion?

"Damn Hannes, you really are crazy!" She started. She shoved the last of her meal in and spoke through her food as she left a rather generous tip along with her payment, "Who the hell would they even send?"

 

\---

 

 A man dressed in a suit walked along the dirt road from out of his car. He was oddly tall and stood awkwardly in attempts to act formal. He walked up to a man by the main supply truck that held various objects for building and repairing. Other workers went about the area fixing up the damaged power station.

"Bertolt Hoover, I'm from a department in the Military Police." He started, a bead of sweat appearing on his forehead. Of course _he_ was the one chosen to investigate the area, despite arguing that Leonhart would do a better jo-

"Right! The government guy old Hannes called, eh?" The man responded. He was wearing construction attire and was probably the director of the construction unit currently working around the area. "I paid no mind to him, but after last night..." He looked over at the damage, arms placed on his hips.

"Yes, about that..." The officer tried, feeling more beads appear on his forehead. It was a bad habit. "What happened here?"

"Haven't the slightest clue!" The constructor said, he walked along the grass floor as the investigator followed. "Sometimes a few cables snap in the wind. But a whole station to shut off? And just look at the power cables!" He gestured to the damage done last night.

Well, shit. He had assumed he'd have a lead here, but it looked like it was just the results of a bad storm. Despite the constructor's surprise, it didn't seem like much to Bertolt. He'd really give his partners a lecture after this. He told them it was a waste of time, that their problems were somewhere else and not in some town in the middle of nowhere. Worst of all, they agreed with him! But being part of the Military Police, it was their job to investigate _any_ leads. So naturally, his partners had chosen him to be the one to come all the way out here and get it over with.

"Right... well, um-" He briefly wondered where he was supposed to put his hands. "Any witnesses from last night?"

"Not that we know of, but we did find this!" He walked over to another truck, picking up an object -a BB gun- and handing it to Bertolt.

Bertolt glanced down at the smashed up BB gun. It was probably left by someone a long time ago. The text on the end read "ARM ARL." Whatever the fuck that meant-

"So all the way from Rose huh? Must be something big happenin' here, eh?"

Bertolt sighed, "In my, well, professional opinion?" He held the BB gun with both hands. "No."

"No? But-" The man started to laugh before Bertolt awkwardly finished his previous sentence.

"There's not. I just have to finish my report here, and get back to the actual big problems- for your safety of course."

The men talked a while longer, about any possibility of other odd occurrences. All of which were negative, as expected. Mr. Hoover thanked the man before heading back to his car parked further down the dirt road to the power station.

He wiped his forehead of sweat, and opened the front door, tossing the useless gun on the passenger seat. He dusted himself off before mumbling to himself, "Something big. Yeah, right. The biggest thing in this town is probably my- OH MY GOD!"

He stumbled backward, hitting his head against the car roof in the process, and then stared at the hood of his car that had been ripped clean off.

Dragging the construction director he was previously talking to towards his, he began to ramble. "You- you won't believe it- it's like if it was a-a-a toy car from the way it-" He pointed to his vehicle, trying to prove to the director what had happened. Except, there was no car to prove anything with. He stuttered, attempting to form a sentence but failed several times. His forehead beaded with sweat. His car had vanished.

"What um... what are we looking at here, Mr. Hoover?" The man asked, a little concerned about the taller one.

Bertolt breathed in, placing his hands against his mouth as if he were praying.  _Steady breaths,_  he told himself before speaking. "Something big, director."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i went through a lot of characters to try and pick out one that would work in the spot of the government's investigator and finally settled on attempting to write more than one character to share the role, but for now it's just bertolt
> 
> it seemed right since in canon aot, the gov. has a secret and so does he and his Pals......... u kno the ones (is this a spoiler at this point i feel like everyone knows what's up w/ him and his pals in snk but just in case im being Vague here)
> 
> the diner scene in this one was brought to u by the uhhh Added Scene from the special edition of the film which is kind of unnecessary but im gay SO


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> henlo i updated this fic and split this chapter (probably awkwardly so) into 2 chapters instead bc i felt like it was just. too long

Light showered down on the forest; the afternoon air was cool as a light breeze drifted between the trees. The rays of sunlight mingled with the shadows of the branches and leaves. The ones that weren't large pines were the golden colors of autumn. Some of the golden leaves had become brown, drifting down to the ground where they crunched underfoot. The last days of fall was still a few weeks away, but signs of its arrival were clear.

Armin walked along a small path of the forest he was more familiar with, still close enough to the area of the previous encounter with the titan. Birds chirped and sung among the treetops and branches. A couple of squirrels scampered up to the hollowed bark of a tree. Armin briefly recalled trying to catch one when he was younger. It didn't turn out well.

He smiled at the memory and continued walking through the woods behind his house. He adjusted the straps of his old bag. The contents were light; just a notebook, pen, old camera, and some cookies. He wanted to document everything about this to the best of his ability. This was an incredible discovery, and he made sure he'd learn everything he could and would keep notes and photos of the encounter (and hopefully, not just one). He wasn't ready to tell anyone else yet; he wasn't even sure if he wanted to (other than Mikasa of course). He just knew this was a considerable change in his life, that this was his own adventure and he wasn't going to let it slip by him. Any of it.

He wasn't exactly sure how to get the titan's attention. It had found him easily enough the first time. Although, it was probably just a coincidence since the titan was at the station first. It probably wouldn't be back at the station after its negative encounter with the place. At the same time, Armin figured it wouldn't have wandered far; it was much too big to hide itself safely anywhere else. Although, whether it was hiding or just lumbering around was also something Armin wasn't sure about.

With a cough to clear his throat, he called out into the woods, attempting to bring the titan to him.

"Hellooo....?" He made his way to a clearing in the forest, just about 40 feet around with a small stump in the middle of it.

"Big guy? I brought some food for you!" He continued to call out.

"It's really sweet!" He stood by the stump for a few seconds, looking around and then sat down, placing his bag by his seat on the stump.

"Come on out! You remember me don't you?" He now took out the contents of the bag. He placed the plastic bag of cookies on his lap, and then the notebook and pen next to him on the stump. He reached into his bag for the camera but hesitated. He wasn't sure if this was the best thing to do now. He needed to be careful, and maybe having a photo this early without knowing how safely hidden the titan was might be a bad idea. Plus... he wasn't sure how the titan would react. He didn't want to scare it off or anger it, though something again told him that the former was more likely than the latter. He decided to leave the camera in his bag, for now. He'd try and use it later on.

He waited a few minutes, gazing forward and at either side. Nothing seemed to be happening and before he realized what he was doing, he dozed off and napped for an unknown amount of time. He was jolted awake as he began falling forward from his seat on the stump. With a shake of his head, he looked around again. The wildlife was quieter, though he was unable to tell if it was because of him, a nearby titan, or maybe just the clearing itself was less inhabited by the forest's residence.

Well, it had quickly become apparent that it was most likely because of the titan. There was a sudden warm pressure on his right shoulder, and Armin proceeded to jump up with a loud yelp of surprise. He turned to look back at what it was and stumbled backward a few steps before falling down on his behind.

His eyes were wide as he trailed them up along a massive body of tanned skin. The titan was here. 

It had poked Armin with one of its large fingers, its right hand still lifted a little from its side. The titan had stepped back a bit while Armin had done the same from the surprise. It was now about 7 feet away from him as it stared right back down at Armin with big green eyes. Armin did not move from his spot on the ground, still staring in shock and awe of the being in front of him.

Then, quite quickly, the titan bent down. It was squatting now as if to get a closer look at Armin. The sudden movement caused Armin to jump again with a small gasp.

The titan then let itself lean backward, and with a loud _thump,_ it sat on the ground just like Armin was. It even then adjusted its legs, in what seemed to be a mimic of how Armin's were laid out in front of him.

Armin was at a loss for words. There were a few moments between the two, just looking at each other. He had to say something, or do something, but still, he stared up at the titan. Its hair was vaguely human; he didn't pay attention to that before. It was a messy head of dark brown, almost black, hair that grazed its shoulders.

Finally, Armin was able to move, to speak. "Uh-um.."

Well, it was a start.

He swallowed and tried again. "So... you don't seem hostile..." The titan just looked back at him, blinking once.

He reached over to the bag of cookies, pulling out one and holding it out to the titan. "Food. I-I brought you food." He felt a little silly; he wasn't even sure if the titan could understand him.

The titan blinked, a small bit of steam escaped its mouth between its teeth.

"G-go on, it's for you," Armin said, shaking the hand that held the cookie.

The titan reached out an arm, and actually pinched the cookie between its thumb and forefinger. It brought the cookie to its face, but the pressure it put on the tiny treat turned it to crumbs. It stared down as the crumbs fell from its hand. Then it looked back at Armin.

"Well... I guess they _are_ too small for you to taste anyway..." The blond said. He felt a little more at ease. Though the shock was still taking its time to wear off, the titan didn't seem to be dangerous, just as Armin had hoped. Another wisp of steam escaped the titan's mouth.

"You seem... uh. Well, you seem nice. I don't think you're gonna hurt me," said Armin. That was when the titan made a noise, its first noise Armin heard besides the roars of pain. This was almost like a low whine mixed with a groan, with steam emitting from the mouth as the sound was made.

Armin found himself smiling a bit. This was incredible. He couldn't say that enough. Just then, the titan lifted up its other arm. Its hand was in a fist, holding something. Armin flinched for a second, not knowing what the titan was doing. It dropped whatever it had in front of Armin. To the blond's surprise, it was the power switch from the station. The power switch he himself had turned off so the titan would be free.

"You... you saw me save you?" Armin said with amazement, almost more to himself. The titan blinked again with a quiet, low groan. It was like a confirmation, Armin thought. Maybe, just maybe, the titan was actually able to understand him. Not only that, but communicate with him as well. It was crazy, something was telling him. But the way the titan looked at him pushed all those doubts aside.

"Can you- can you understand me?" He asked the titan. It blinked at him and then gave another small groan.

He couldn't believe it. Armin was in pure amazement. True, it could've just been responding to any noise Armin made with its own, but Armin didn't believe that to be the case. He quickly decided to talk to it more, to learn more. And well... maybe make a friend.

"I'm... I'm Armin, Armin Arlert. That's my name," he told the titan, pointing a hand at his own chest to help explain.

"Uh, Hello. It's nice to meet you." Armin lifted up his hand to wave a little at the titan. The titan tilted its head curiously. Armin smiled at that.

The titan raised its own hand, looked at it, and then shook it. It had attempted to copy Armin's wave, although a little more messy in movement. It looked back at Armin, waiting for some sort of response. Armin gave the titan just that. He was already smiling before, but now he was grinning even harder, and a laugh came out of him from the pure excitement and happiness he was feeling.

"Yeah! Hello! That's- that's waving. It's a greeting," he explained through his excitement. "You can do that to say hello, which is what you say when you meet someone." The titan made another sort of whine and then shook its hand in the air again. Steam drifted again from its mouth, and Armin was sure its eyes were shining. He could relate to that.

Laughter left his lips again, "I'm so glad you're nice! I had a feeling you were, really." That was met with another sound from the titan. Like a chuffing noise.

"Well uh... do you have a name too? Something I can call you?" He asked. Armin wasn't sure if it could even speak, but with the amount the titan understood, he was sure they could figure out something. The titan seemed surprised by this, making a sound that actually sounded like a questioning hum.

"You know, like how I'm called Armin, that's my name." He copied the gesture from earlier, pointing again to himself to show what he was saying. "I know you probably can't talk... but I figured we could think of something. I'm going to call you "he" ok? Just let me know if that's ok of course. So do you have a name? Do you w-" Before he could ask the titan if he wanted to give it -no, _him_ \- a name, the titan interrupted.

"Ahhrn?" The titan seemed to ask. What he was asking, Armin wasn't sure. But he knew the titan was actually attempting to speak. Needless to say, Armin's eyes widened, and giddiness filled him again.

"What was that? Are you trying to talk?" Armin asked with an almost hurried tone.

"Ahrrmn." The titan said again, a little clearer this time. He seemed to be thinking, the space above his eyes wrinkling, like furrowing eyebrows that weren't there.

"You can do it!" Armin said, eager for the titan to say something.

"Amn- Arm... ARMIN!" He exclaimed, as excited as Armin was.

The smaller was utterly speechless. It was as if the titan took over the ability to talk from him. He stared up at the titan, looking at big green eyes that stared right back at him, waiting. The titan lifted a hand, pointing at Armin, but not close enough for contact. "Armin." He said again.

Armin felt his eyes getting wet, tears threatening to form. He couldn't believe what he had just found, what the universe had somehow allowed him to discover. "Y-yeah." He breathed. "That's me; I'm Armin."

The titan gave another chuffing sound. His mouth was held slightly ajar, almost like a grin, with a bit of the steam coming out. Armin smiled right back at him, overjoyed.

He stood up, too excited to sit still. "Do you- do you remember where you're from? Did you come from space?" He pointed up at the sky, the titan's gaze following it. "Up there? From the sky?" The titan looked back down in thought, the "furrowing" of his brow appearing again. He met Armin's gaze after a moment and gave a low groan.

"Can you not remember?" Armin frowned, the titan was all alone this whole time with no idea where he was... a sense of sadness crept into Armin's chest. "You might have hurt your head from that explosion you came from. Maybe you fell from space? Anything is possible though, I guess," he continued. It was true; if the titan was an alien from outer space, Armin thought the impact from the fall would have killed him (which was not something he wanted to think about). Especially if it was one big enough to knock his memory out. He could have already lived here on Earth, and the "explosion" Hannes talked about could have been a very unlucky lightning strike. That wasn't much better; the titan was hurt either way.

"You've been through a lot haven't you..." Armin said with sadness in his tone. "I wish I could've helped you sooner-" Armin felt a little guilty, he couldn't help it. He constantly felt the need to apologize, and this was no exception. But the titan once again interrupted him with a sound. This time it was like a grunt.

Armin looked at him curiously, trying to read what the titan was thinking or trying to say. The titan jerked its head and grunted again. The titan seemed to protest his guilt, even though Armin didn't completely show it. Maybe this was an exception. He still wished it was sooner of course, but it helped to know the titan didn't think it was at all his fault. He was grateful, and that meant something.

"Well, you're ok now, right?" He asked the titan. He responded with a chirruping sound, again, like a confirmation. It didn't stop there though, he spoke again.

"O-K." He said. He pointed at the power switch, "You. Help." Armin gave a shaky smile, still not over the talking. The speech was slow and careful; the titan was obviously aware of its own difficulty with human words. Still, it was astounding.

"I'm very glad to hear that," he said with a grin. His eyes drifted from the titan to the sky. It was starting to get dark, the setting sun turning the sky into the warm colors before night. "Oh... it's getting late..." He said. He turned his eyes back to the titan. "I have to get home, I really don't want to, but Mikasa- she's my uh, caretaker- she's gonna freak out if I don't get home in time." He frowned again. He didn't want to leave the titan alone again. The titan didn't seem to protest, though he looked a little disappointed once Armin had said he had to leave. 

Then, an absolutely crazy thought came to his mind. There was an empty barn house of significant size that was right next to his and Mikasa's home. They never used it, except for Armin when he put his bike away or wanted some solitude that wasn't his room or the forest. It could work, maybe.

"Wait, I have an idea. Do you want to come with me? You'd have to stay in a big barn- uh, it's like a big empty room, just for tonight, so you won't be alone." The titan's mouth was held open by this as it flinched back in surprise, blinking. "O-only if you want!" He quickly added.

The titan was quick to respond. He grunted again and stood up. For a moment, Armin stared up in wonder at the gargantuan titan. "Wow..." He breathed. After a few seconds of silence, he said, "Well, follow me. My house isn't too far from here."

"Follow. Armin." The titan stated. Armin smiled again and nodded. He gathered his belongings to put back in his bag, figuring he could find some other time to start logging things down. He led the titan through the path, thankful that they wouldn't have to knock down any trees. He talked to the titan as he walked along, the large footsteps following behind him.

"This is crazy- really. I mean, I can't believe you're actually real. I'm- _so_ glad. This is- I've got to be the luckiest person in the world!" He rambled, his hands animating a bit from the excitement. "I have so many things to ask you; I don't even know where to start!" He looked back at the titan and was met with the undivided attention of the giant. "We'll focus on getting home first; then we'll go from there." 

He walked a little more, passed the last bit of trees on the edge of the forest before emerging out to a line of train tracks. His home was just down the hill. "There it is! That's my house, Mikasa's too." He pointed to the distant house, the titan looked over to it, blinking.

"We just have to pass the tracks and walk down the hill, let's hurry though, you can't get ca-" Armin yelped in surprise, unable to finish what he was going to say. While crossing the tracks, he tripped over the rails. He groaned, sitting up and rubbed his knee. "Ouch..." He mumbled. Before he could even feel embarrassed for his fall, the titan let out a thunderous growl.

"What? What's wrong!?" Armin asked as he stood up in a rush, confused as to why the titan got so upset. He wouldn't be mad at him for simply falling would he?

The titan crouched onto his knees and roared at the train tracks. He slammed a fist against them, almost causing them to break. _Oh. He thinks it hurt me,_ Armin thought and quickly tried to ease the angry titan before permanent damage was done.

"Hey, it's ok! It's ok! Don't worry it's not alive, I just tripped!" He ran over to the titan, waving his hands to try and get him to stop. "Please it's ok, I swear! Don't break it; the train comes through here! Stop!" The titan looked at him, and a confused groan came out of his mouth. Still, it got him to stop. 

The relief was short-lived, however. Just as the titan was leaning up to stand, a train horn blared out from a distance. The titan jerked his head toward the direction, the ground rumbling from the oncoming train. He got back to his defensive mindset. He let out another growl, now mixed with a loud hiss, and steam came out in large amounts from his mouth. The sound was like a big cat, but very, _very_ big and with a lot of steam. A lot of steam.

Armin was terrified, not of the alarming sounds from the titan, but rather for the titan's safety. He was going to get himself killed if he didn't get off the tracks. "NO! Stop it! It's not alive please it's not dangerous!" He yelled, anxiety and terror reaching dangerous levels as he waved his arms to grab the giant's attention. "HEY! GET OFF OF THERE! IT'S NOT DANGEROUS! YOU'RE GONNA GET HURT!" 

The train was so close now, and every second it came closer to the titan's doom. He hissed at the train, eyes narrowing as an arm was raised in the position to hit or grab the vehicle. "PLEASE! THERE'S PEOPLE IN THERE!" Armin tried, now close enough to grab at the titan. Before he could, the titan looked back him, eyes frantic but losing their edge once he looked back to Armin. He was apparently confused as to why Armin would stop him. He seemed to listen, finally. That was much too late though, and to Armin's horror, the train came through.

Before the titan was able to move off the tracks, a gust of steam blew Armin off his feet, tumbling him back a few yards from the tracks. The sound of impact echoed, followed by the sound of the train itself derailing. He quickly leaned up, and yelped as a giant torso and head (thankfully connected) landed next to him. He was in shock, unable to react for a few seconds, only to be shocked by another body part landing a few feet away. It was a limb of some sort; it was hard to tell. There was so much steam he could barely see anything more than a couple of feet away.

He took quick gasps as breaths, looking around frantically. Tears were starting to form at the corners of his eyes. "No... No no no." was all he could make out. He put his head against the palms of his hands. _Please no..._

He was yet again met with another sound of impact against the ground. He glanced up with a surprised gasp. To his complete shock, it was a right arm, half-formed, trying to push the torso it was connected to upright. The torso that previously had no right arm. Armin gaped at the sight before him. The titan was ok. He was alive and was now pushing himself up, groaning a little bit. The steam started to slowly leave the both of them, revealing that the other fallen limb had _disintegrated,_ or something.

Armin was not allowed any more time to gape or question because there was a call from the train. "Hellooo? Anyone out there? Are you alright?" Luckily whoever the person was, they were still too far ahead to see them.

"Oh no-" Armin managed to say. He looked back to the titan. "We have to run. Are- are you able to get up?" The titan looked at the anxious boy, understanding the need to hurry. He grunted with a jerk of his head and stood up, staggering a bit. They both rushed down the hill to the barn near Armin's house.

Once they made it there, the smaller caught his breath with a hand against the outside of the barn's large doors. He and the titan watched the forefinger of him regenerate. Once that was done, the arm was completely healed up. The titan looked at Armin, and with the re-grown appendage, he waved his shaky wave at him. Armin beamed with relief and was finally able to talk. "You- you can heal yourself!?" He said between his heavy breaths. "That's... that's so amazing! You're incredible!" The titan gave a low whine, shaking his head a bit.

He jerked his head toward Armin. "Thoughh- thought. Danger. Keep Armin safe." He stated.

Armin's eyes were soft; the titan was nothing ever to be afraid of. He knew that the something inside of him telling him so from the beginning was right. He was so glad. "I'm glad you're ok, I thought it was all over... please be more careful though ok? I know that train was scary, but if I'm not worried about something, you don't have to worry about it either, do you understand?" He asked carefully. He figured he would probably do the same if he were in the titan's place. The titan gave a slow nod with another low whine, understanding what Armin was saying.

Breaking the moment, Armin heard a car coming up the road. God dammit, can he not have a _second_ of time without something happening? Mikasa was coming up the road and would be in for a surprise if she saw Armin with a 50-foot titan. He didn't think she'd understand. Not now, anyway.

"Oh, _great,_ " he groaned. He looked up to the titan. "It's Mikasa! I-I have to go inside before she comes out here!" He fumbled in his blue jacket's pocket and brought out a pair of keys. He quickly jammed it into the barn doors' padlock, looking over his shoulder at the car now on its way up the driveway. "GAH. Ok- it's unlocked, just open it and crawl in ok?" He started, already walking in a rush toward the house. "I won't be long ok, I promise!" He called back, leaving the titan next to the key in the padlock and the barn house.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey so changes i didn't make was making eren not talk. he's able to talk with a lipless mouth don't worry about it


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so here's the second half of the chapter i split up! this is going up along with the next chapter

"How was today?" Mikasa asked from her side of the table. She took a sip from her mug of tea. Armin sat on the opposite end of the small two seated table, playing with his food rather than eating it.

"Oh, haha, it was fine? Nothing exciting." He coughed nervously. Mikasa eyed him, before taking a bite of her meal.

"The train crashed right by our house, up the hill, I saw it driving toward here," she said, lifting the mug to take another sip of tea.

"Oh, I was reading again, I must've been too caught up in th- th-" He stuttered. Eyes went wide. Across the dining room table, out the kitchen's window, he saw something he was not expecting. The titan leaned over, attempting to hide behind the tree next to his house. He must've not have been able to open the doors on his own. Armin didn't have time to ponder what happened, knowing Mikasa was probably worried about what was up with him at this point. He couldn't reveal the titan to her yet; he had to think of a cover.

Quickly, he started talking again. "The- the story! Yeah, haha." He looked over at the titan, who was looking at him, not knowing what to do. Armin jerked his head to the side, gesturing the titan to get out of sight and back to the barn. He looked back at Mikasa, who kept looking at him, mug still held to her mouth.

"I read too long again; my head hurts-" He mimicked his head jerk from before, rubbing the fake headache. Mikasa still stared, expression unreadable.

The titan tilted his head. Armin bit his lip, and he waved a hand, gesturing to the titan again to leave to the barn. Looking back at Mikasa, he continued to try and cover himself and the titan. "God my hands are numb too-" He continued to wave his hands like he was shaking numbness away. The titan seemed confused still. But he lifted up a hand to wave back at the smaller.

Armin slammed his head against the table in frustration, though he didn't blame the titan for not knowing what the fuck he was doing. He looked up from the table's surface, arms crossed in front of him. He gave a nervous smile to Mikasa, who continued to just look at him in what was probably amusement at this point. The titan seemed to make the connection finally and snuck back to the barn as quietly as a 50-foot tall titan could.

"You know what, I'm gonna go take some pain medicine and wash my hands bye!" He said quickly and dashed toward the door. Mikasa didn't really get time to react. She turned toward the kitchen, looking to see if anything was there. She turned back, staring at her mug. Armin was acting awfully strange today.

Armin had to hurry to just get the titan safely into the barn before anything else happened. He rushed to the door, as quietly and quickly as he could without causing Mikasa to come wonder what was happening. He made it to the front door, and opened it-

"Bertolt Hoover, I work for the government-" Armin slammed the door right in front of the officer's face in panic. He swiftly turned around, looking to see if he could try the back door.

"Armin?" Mikasa called from the dining room. Shit, she was going to come this way. Before he could try and think of something, there was knocking at the door. Armin groaned, took a breath, and opened the door.

"Hey there uh- little guy, Bertolt Hoover, I work for the government. Are your parents home?" He talked to him like he was ten god damn years old, but whatever.

"We're eating-" Armin said, an annoyed edge was on his voice.

"Who's at the door?" Mikasa said, walking up behind Armin. This sucked. He stepped back as Mikasa came forward to open the door fully.

"Well, hello there. I'm Mr. Hoover; I work for the government, do you have a phone I could use?" The officer, or whatever the hell he was, asked. Armin could see the guy was nervous the second Mikasa answered, the sweat on his face was apparent.

"Yes. right over there in the kitchen." Mikasa let him in, though not taking her cautious stare off him.

The officer nodded his head and coughed awkwardly. He headed to the phone, and while the officer was making the call, Armin rushed upstairs to see if he could see the titan from his own window. He didn't want to cause any suspicion by looking out the kitchen where the officer was, or trying to go outside. He was sure this had to do with the train accident. He trusted that no one, other than Hannes, had seen the titan. If one of the train conductors caught a glimpse of him before impact, that wouldn't be substantial proof either. Plus, they more than likely knocked their heads against something from the crash, so that was even more cause of doubt if anyone began to speculate the titan's existence.

He rushed to his room's window, gazing toward the barn. The titan was hiding behind it, luckily away from the view of any window downstairs. He needed to get back to him as soon as possible.

As he made his way downstairs, the officer was thankfully on his way out. Mikasa led him to the front door, letting him out.

"Thank you again, uh...?" He asked, not knowing her name.

"Mikasa Ackerman. And this is Armin Arlert," she said and was perfectly capturing the Less-Than-Friendly monotone voice she had for customers at her job.

"Good evening, Mikasa. Armon." He bowed his head and walked out the door towards his car.

"Uh. Armin." The blond corrected, even more annoyed the longer the officer stayed. He walked back to the dining room to quickly finish his food, followed by Mikasa as she shut the door.

 

\---

 

With a mildly frustrated sigh and a wipe of the forehead, Bertolt got into the vehicle he borrowed from the mayor. Today was supposed to be boring, but now it was just humiliating and frustrating. He was sure he had a lead here. For fuck's sake, there was a train accident with an eyewitness! Sure, the guy had a head injury, but why'd that matter? That plus the original call and the damaged station should have been enough.

But no! His partners denied any proof of a giant wandering around the woods. Why? "Not enough evidence." Ridiculous. He would be on his way back to Rose within the next day, and now that he was sure their lead was here, he didn't want to leave. They were the ones who insisted that he be the one to investigate in the first place, and now he had a feeling about this report. So he should be able to stay.

And yet, he received no compassion from his partners. Ridiculous. They told him he needed more evidence. A footprint or even a photograph to get the Military Police down there. 

With a huff, he turned the keys to start the car. "Armin." he mocked, annoyed with the kid's tone of voice used on him. "The hell kind of name is 'Armin' anyway? Might as well name him 'Hogarth' or something-" He stopped.

Glancing over at the passenger seat, where the BB gun laid, he realized something. "Arm Arl...? ARMIN ARLERT!"

 

\---

 

Another knock at the door. Armin tried, and thankfully succeeded, to not scream in frustration. He walked toward the door, opening it again, and was met by the same stupid officer from before.

"Bertolt Hoover, you work for the government," Armin said before the officer could even begin.

"I -ahem- I wasn't going to say that," the officer replied, rather awkwardly. "I have something for you, Armin." He revealed a smashed up BB gun. Oh shit.

"Oh... thank you?" Armin didn't know what to say, he took the BB gun and just looked at it.

"This was up at the power station, were you there recently?" Goddamnit.

"Uh... yeah. I was... hiking." Armin knew he wasn't capable of hiking, the physical requirements were just not met by him. He didn't think the officer would guess that though. "I had lost my BB gun out there. Thanks for bringing it back, I wish it wasn't broken though." He could not care less about that stupid gun, but needed to keep up a convincing lie.

"I see... well I'm sure it's an easy replacement! Did you happen to see anything unusual?" The officer asked, voice an uncanny type of formal.

"No...? Nothing unusual, not really," Armin lied. Although "unique" or "amazing" were much better descriptors.

The officer narrowed his eyes but said nothing more on the matter. He tipped his hat. "Well that's all then, thank you again. I'll be around, let me know if you find anything strange." And with that, the man walked out to his car again for the second time. Thankfully, this would also be the last time.

Armin closed the door and sighed in relief. He stuffed the BB gun behind the shelf by the stairs, not wanting to deal with it right then. He walked back to the dining table to take his plate to the kitchen. Mikasa was there washing up her own plate.

"Same person?" She asked, still focused on her task.

"Yeah." He answered, tossing his leftovers in the trash bin.

"How annoying. You didn't eat much of your food, aren't you still hungry?"

"No I'm alright, after that I just want to go to bed."

"You and I both, I'm going to my room. I'll see you tomorrow ok? Goodnight," she said as she dried off her plate.

"Yeah ok, see you then." He smiled, waving to Mikasa as she walked upstairs to her bedroom.

Thank god, Armin thought. He went upstairs to his own room as well to gather some things before finally making it back to the titan.

The titan perked up once he heard footsteps rushing towards him. He was still crouched behind the side of the barn house that was out of sight from the main house. Armin appeared before him, now with a bag slung over his shoulders.

"That was way too close... what happened?" The blond asked. The titan jerked his head to the side, shaking it. Armin looked at the lock, keys still inside. He checked, and sure enough, he didn't actually unlock it.

"Well, there's the problem. I didn't unlock it all the way... I was in such a rush I guess I didn't check." He sighed, feeling a little embarrassed. The titan didn't seem annoyed though, so he didn't dwell on it too much, he was just glad that they didn't get caught. If anything, the titan seemed relieved. It appeared as though he really thought he did something wrong.

"Don't blame yourself, ok?" Armin told him as he unlocked the padlock, looking back to the titan when he said it. The titan gave a small whine and slowly nodded. Smiling softly, Armin finally opened the two large barn doors and led the titan inside. The massive creature followed, crawling in order to fit through the doors. Luckily, once he made it inside, the barn was just big enough for him to sit up. Armin closed the door as the titan adjusted himself, now sitting up and facing the doors they came through.

Armin sat down too, crossing his legs like the titan was. He looked at him and said, "I brought some stuff for you-" He reached into his bag and pulled out a few books. "I'm sure even if you can read, these are gonna be too small for you to see anyway. But I thought that maybe I could read to you- if- if you want." Armin stumbled a bit over his words. He was honestly a little nervous, because in all seriousness, this was his first ever friend. Other than Mikasa but he wasn't sure if parental guardians counted. He wasn't really sure what the right things to say were but just went along naturally, though still with a bit of stumbling.

The titan titled his head, curious. That encouraged Armin. "I brought a good amount; I just grabbed a bunch since I was hurrying to get back here. Let's see-" He started to organize the books in front of him. The titan leaned down, trying to get a better look.

"I've got this one... eh, it's ok. Oh! I could read this one; it's kinda cool." He sorted through the novels, trying to decide what to read. He lifted his head up from the books, looking at the sudden movement from the titan. He was now moving to lay down on his stomach, arms folded in front of him as his head rested on top, a very human-like gesture. Armin gave him a big smile from that, and saw that the titan was looking down at the books. He followed his gaze and caught a glimpse of another book under the ones he was still sorting.

"Oh! That's Lord of the Rings... I- that's my favorite book, it's uh-it's pretty long though..." He moved aside the book on top to pick up the big novel. It was technically three books in one, but that didn't bother him. The titan listened intently, wanting to hear more. "It's about uh- well, there's a lot of traveling in it. And seeing the world around them..." He spoke with a lightness in his voice. The titan- Armin could have sworn he heard a low purr.

"World." He said it quietly despite his large size. Armin looked at him, and noticed something about his big eyes, surrounded by the dark black of the skin around them. They weren't just green. They had a yellow-gold color to them too; it wasn't something he could easily describe. He decided he liked them though.

"Yeah..." Armin said back, the softness still there. "I love those kinds of stories, about going out and seeing the world." The titan seemed to be completely invested in what he was saying. A bit of steam trailed up from his mouth.

"Maybe we can start it tonight, and I'll try and read to you as much as I can, whenever I can- until we finish it!" He said. It was like a promise. To stay together with the titan- his friend. It was comforting, in a way.

He seemed to really like that, giving an excited grunt mixed with a chirp. The eyes weren't the only thing Armin noticed more of then. He saw that his ears- which were long and pointed- perked up. He smiled, he didn't really notice them before either. He liked them a lot as well.

"Your ears are pointed! Like a hobbit or an elf, though I don't think theirs are as long as yours," He laughed. The titan tilted his head again, curious to hear more. Armin smiled and opened up the book. "Alright then, let's begin." He said. With that, he began to read to the titan the story about adventure and fantastical places.

2 hours passed, and it was pure joy. The titan never got bored, always listening to every word Armin spoke. He had an incredible amount of intelligence, that much was obvious. Armin was intrigued by the titan's behavior and comprehension level, and honestly, he was also thankful to have made a friend. He wondered how much the titan was capable of. He clearly had a whole range of emotions like Armin had, as evident by his reactions to the story. Armin was already getting good at reading his expressions too. Despite the always-visible teeth and lack of lips, the titan was able to convey how he felt. His cheekbones would raise and his skin would stretch. His mouth would open and brow would furrow. 

That wasn't all either; the titan was actually able to speak. He was learning to talk pretty well, even in this small amount of time. Armin would take the time to explain a word or sentence, and the titan would nod, sometimes repeating the word he had said. His various noises helped express himself too, from the low murmurs to louder grunts.

Armin was happy to have a friend, even if said friend was a 50-foot titan. He was glad he got along so well with him too, and shared his excitement over the story. Of course, he was also happy to discover something so incredible, he didn't think he'd ever fully be able to get used to the giant in front of him. Not in a bad way, but in a way that was going to leave him constantly amazed. That, mixed with the happiness over an already great friendship, had Armin feeling ecstatic.

However, the sleepiness did eventually get to him. He finished the last chapter for the night and yawned. "I think that's good for tonight, yeah?" He looked at the titan, who was still lying on his stomach. "I don't want to stop, but I'm pretty sleepy... I promise to read to you more ok?" The titan lifted his head to give Armin a happy nod.

Armin gathered the books into his bag and stood up. "Well, you'll be safe in here tonight at least, I'll see you t-"

"Errrn" The titan said, interrupting his sentence.

"What?"

"Errhn" He tried again, similar to his first attempt at speaking back at the forest. He propped himself on his forearm, the right arm pointing to his chest. Alarmed, Armin watched as the titan was communicating something he figured was important.

"Eren." His ears perked up at that, like he was surprised by his own word. "Name. Eren." He patted his chest.

Armin was again left almost speechless by the titan. He had a name. He managed to choke out a single word. "Eren..." He could feel an undefinable emotion of wonder. He once again struggled to keep his eyes from welling up with tears.

"That's... your name..." He breathed out, feeling the wetness of a single tear rolling down his cheek. "Eren..." He said again, setting it in stone in his mind as he committed it to memory.

The titan, Eren, looked at him with a soft expression. He gave a low rumbling sound. Armin giggled softly, wiping his cheek and eyes with the sleeve of his jacket. "Ok- well, I-I guess I'll head out now..." The titan looked at him, giving another low rumbling sound and a nod. Armin lingered at the barn doors, holding one open. "Well... uh- goodnight... Eren." He said.

Eren returned to his original position of lying on the ground with his arms folded in front, head resting against them. "Ghh- Good. Night. Armin." Steam escaped his mouth as he spoke.

Armin grinned, crinkling the corners of his eyes. He slowly shut the door, and locked the padlock, placing the keys in his pocket. He stared at the doors for a moment, and then made his way to the house. 

He quietly walked inside, took the broken BB gun he stuffed behind the shelf earlier, and went to his room. He put the BB gun back under his bed and kicked off his shoes as he got to bed. He didn't bother changing into his pj's; he was too tired from the eventful day. Even though he was undoubtedly exhausted, his mind was swimming with thoughts. Sleep did finally claim him though, and he slept soundly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the dinner scene is still there even tho it didn't really need to be because i love that scene. that's it.
> 
> i always thought armin was very understanding with eren, so i dont actually think he'd get frustrated with him usually. that's why he lets him tag along and why he doesn't scold him for his mistake as opposed to the actual iron giant movie
> 
> i dont really have an explanation for having armin's favorite book being lord of the rings other than i really like it and uh i barely read so idk anything else that would work to show how he wants to see the world and all that so hope its ok


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> he hand too big for he got damn friend..............

Armin got a late night's sleep from how much he spent just thinking about things. Still, he got up early with ease. There was so much to do and so much to plan. There were so many things he wanted to learn from the titan. How he worked, his mannerisms, intelligence level, and everything really. He was intrigued by the behavior and how the titan, Eren, had communicated on a human level. His mind was swarming with ideas and questions and all sorts of things that made him feel eager to learn more. He also had hopes of teaching him things too. Eren was obviously capable of being educated, and Armin was betting that he'd be able to teach him a whole lot of things. If he could get Eren to understand human things, he'd also probably be able to share this discovery to other people. At least to Mikasa.

Plus, he now had a friend he could talk to and hang around with.

He made the very easy decision to skip school. It was the last day before winter break began, anyway. He got up, brushed his teeth (briefly wondering if Eren would need to be cleaned and how he'd do it), and headed downstairs. Since he fell asleep in his clothes, he didn't really need to do much else. He got a quick snack from the kitchen, and then made his way outside and to the large barn house.

He unlocked the doors again and creaked open one of the large doors. He peeked inside, careful not to wake Eren up if he was still sleeping. He was seemingly just resting though, because the second Armin opened up the door, Eren perked up. He made a chuffing sound to greet his small companion as he walked inside.

"Good morning, Eren," he said to him, smiling. He closed the door behind him and went over to greet the titan. "I can stay here for a while today; I don't have school and Mikasa works until 5. She actually starts a little later but she went off to run some errands as well." It was comforting to talk to someone- or- sometitan, even if he couldn't always get what he meant. Still, the titan listened intently.

"So I was wondering, and a little worried honestly, if you need to eat? I know you haven't eaten since yesterday at least, and with a stomach as big as yours I'm sure you need a lot... " Eren grunted, shaking his head with a jerk.

"Eat, no," he responded. Armin was surprised, this time not just by the talking but by what he was saying too.

"You... don't need to eat..?" He was confused as to how that'd be possible but figured it certainly could be, Eren was completely different from anything he'd ever known. Eren shook his head again, steam escaping his mouth.

Well, that was good, he didn't need to worry about trying to find food for him. "I'm glad you're not starving or anything... Still, that's really cool Eren; your body is so unique!" He told him. He got a low rumble from Eren in return.

"There's a lot I want to learn about you," he said, walking closer to the titan. "I mean, you're one of a kind! There's so much to learn from you, Eren, if you'll let me." Eren looked at him and blinked. He didn't seem to get what he'd want to learn from him, but with a nod and grunt, he agreed to Armin's idea.

"Thank you! If you're uncomfortable with a question or anything- just tell me ok? I don't know what you remember and what you don't want to talk about, and I'm sure I'd be uncomfortable about the same things you are- if any, so please don't worry," he explained, rambling a little. The titan seemed to understand though and nodded once more. The skin around his cheekbones stretched to mimic a small smile (small being relative to his face, of course).

Armin returned the smile and reached a hand out to touch him. Eren flinched back, surprised by the movement, accompanied by a whine. Armin retracted his hand and frowned. "I-I'm sorry... do you not like being touched?"

Eren looked at him, his brow furrowed. He let out another whine with wisps of steam. He looked down, almost as if he was trying to think of what to say. He tightly shut his eyes, still looking down to the ground.

"What's... what's wrong?" Armin asked, worry evident in his voice. Eren responded only by folding the arms under closer across each other, hands obviously grabbing tight. He didn't think Eren would have reacted this way if he just didn't want to be touched. The titan seemed to hesitate like he was afraid of something. _Oh._

"Are- are you afraid of hurting me...?" He asked, guessing that maybe that was what was bothering him. It stung a bit, even though he barely just met Eren, he hated the idea of him being afraid he'd hurt anything. He was still his friend after all.

He looked to the side now, letting out another long whine. "Armin can't hurt." He finally admitted. The smaller frowned, and this time his own brows were furrowed.

"I don't believe that you can, Eren." He reached his hand out again, waiting for Eren to meet him. "It's ok... I promise," he said. He was promising a lot lately, but intended on keeping every single one.

Eren looked at him, letting out one more whine before finally moving forward. It was slow, but he carefully moved just enough so the tip of his nose was placed gently against Armin's outstretched hand. He was nervous, but Armin was able to give him the confidence he needed.

Armin pressed his hand a little harder against Eren's nose. The skin was warm, just like he remembered, but it wasn't uncomfortable. He didn't say anything for a few moments, not wanting to break whatever was happening. Eren had to cross his eyes to look at Armin's hand, and let out a low rumble as is ears bent down a bit. Armin was still staring at his hand against the titan's darker skin. It was definitely different from a human's, veins and stretches on the surface were easily noticeable. However, it wasn't uncanny.

He wanted to give the titan a scratch, or a pet, or something but worried he'd make Eren too nervous. He kept his hand still, whispering, "See... there's nothing to be afraid of..." Another low rumble was heard. Armin hesitated, and let his hand linger for just a moment longer before letting it drift back to his side.

Eren looked at him for a long moment, before giving a gentle grunt. "Safe..." He said, surprised. Armin couldn't believe just how surprised Eren was that it was ok.

"Yes, safe," Armin confirmed. He offered a soft smile to Eren, in which the titan responded to by offering one of his own, ears perking up along with his "grin."

Eren sat up then, legs crossing each other. He waited for Armin to say something, or do something. Armin sat down, crossing his legs as well. "So um... I don't even know where to begin, really," he said. Eren tilted his head again.

"I mean I have so many questions..." Armin told him.

Eren was very patient and didn't seem to mind his questioning at all. Most of the things he asked were about any possible memories they could recover. Like how he knew his name, and if it had triggered something in his mind to recall something else. Eren didn't have an answer to any of those things though, he just couldn't remember. He seemed a little ashamed about it, but Armin reassured him that it was ok. He said that he would've forgotten too, and told him he didn't need to feel bad about it. He still wanted Eren to remember of course, for himself and for Armin to learn about him more.

He could recognize things fairly well though and understood a lot. The power switch was a good example, even though Eren didn't know what "power switch" meant, he knew that it's what Armin used to turn off the electricity. He understood pain too, and said he actually did remember _that_ from the "lightning strike." He told Armin that there was "hurt" and also light. He couldn't remember what was hurt, but the green lightning made that connection for him. Armin assumed that he just remembered being struck by lighting (or fell from the sky) and remembered how much it hurt. Still, something about the way Eren recalled it made it seem like the lighting itself wasn't the source of pain.

And then there was the deal with _where_ Eren came from. The more they talked, the more Armin was lead to believe that he definitely wasn't an alien. Eren couldn't remember falling down that far, not that he could remember much but he guessed something like that would be hard to forget. He also could identify certain things. He knew what trees were, knew what mountains meant. He understood grass and dirt, and even buildings seemed to be known by him. No, he wasn't from space. He was here on Earth the whole time he's been alive. Where exactly, they still didn't figure out. Armin had faith they could uncover this mystery though.

"I don't know how you would've been able to be hidden if you've been here on Earth." Eren looked at Armin, listening to everything he had to say. "I mean, if you lived underground, then your anatomy wouldn't make sense for that- you can see well, and a humanoid body- even one as big as yours, wouldn't fit well for that. I would think you'd have big claws or something, for digging. And your skin would probably get hurt under the sunlight-" He continued. He felt like he was rambling, but didn't stop himself, Eren didn't seem to mind anyway. "You're warm-blooded, obviously. Actually, I want to guess your inner temperature is above boiling point, that's why all that steam comes out yeah?" Eren let out a good amount of steam then, looking up as it faded away. "Right! And your skin is so warm-" Without really thinking, Armin placed a hand against Eren's knee to feel the warm skin.

The skin under his hand tremored, but other than that, Eren didn't pull away this time. He gave a small worried chirp, but stayed still. Armin didn't move his hand and instead decided to do something maybe a little bold for himself. He climbed up to sit on Eren's knee.

Of course, Eren was surprised by this. He remained calm though, remembering that Armin told him there was nothing to be worried about. He let Armin sit on his knee, and chuffed at him.

"I'm alright, see?" He smiled, patting a hand on Eren's knee to reassure him. The titan seemed convinced, and let out what looked like a sigh along with steam drifting from his mouth.

Then, Eren decided to do something bold himself. He brought a hand to Armin, placing it just in front of him.

Armin let out a small gasp, and gently placed his hand against Eren's forefinger. Eren had offered his hand to him, showing him that he did take Armin's words to heart. Armin knew he was nervous, that he was aware of just how big he was, so that added to how important it was that Eren was trusting him. He smiled, this time letting his hand run back and forth a little against the skin.

Eren let out a rumbling noise and turned his hand, so his palm was facing upward. Armin's eyes grew wide, understanding that Eren was actually offering to have Armin climb into his palm. 

"R-really?" He asked, almost breathless. Eren gave a quick nod, confirming his question.

Armin let out a breath he wasn't aware he was holding, and stepped onto the palm carefully. Eren cupped his hand with the other, making sure Armin was secure. Armin kept a hand holding onto one of his fingers to stay balanced.

Eren, very gently, lifted his hands up. Armin kept his balance as he was brought up high enough so that Eren's chest was right in front of him. The titan looked at him, nervousness slowly fading away. He stretched his skin in the way that meant a smile. Armin returned it with a shaky laugh and said, "This... this is so cool." Eren responded with a happy sounding grunt.

A thought came into Armin's head. He knew Eren couldn't stay here in the barn, Mikasa would eventually come in. Plus, it wasn't fair to keep Eren in such a small space. He already had thought about where Eren could stay before and knew that there was a scrapyard not too far from where he lived. He figured that could work, as long as they were subtle. He hadn't put much thought into how they were going to get there though, but maybe...

"Eren?" The titan gave another grunt in response. "As much as I would like you to, you can't stay in the barn much longer-" Eren gave a small whine, confused by what Armin was saying so far. "It's just so small, and Mikasa could find you if she ever comes looking for me. I know where we could go, it's a big place with lots of hiding spots, and I'll visit you everyday ok?" Armin explained further. Eren seemed to understand then and gave Armin a nod.

Armin asked him to put him down for a moment, and Eren gently laid his open palm on the ground so Armin could step off. He led Eren outside, his bag slung over his shoulder, and walked a little distance away from his house before Armin turned to Eren.

"Ok Eren, pick me up again."

Eren seemed a little surprised but leaned down to place his hand on the ground once more. Armin stepped back on as Eren repeated his movements from before, cupping his open palm with his other hand as he very carefully stood back up and lifted his hands that were now parallel to his chest.

Armin grinned, and with a little giddiness in his voice said, "Alright Eren, that way!" He pointed in the direction their destination was, and Eren began to walk towards it. It caused Armin to stumble a bit, but he regained his balance and grabbed onto one of Eren's large fingers again.

It was so high up, but it wasn't terrifying. He let a breathy laugh out as the wind softly blew through his blond hair like a gentle breeze. He looked down to the ground, smile still on his face. There was nothing like this, Armin was certain. He looked forward; they were walking through the forest trees by the road that led to the scrapyard. It was already dark despite it only being around 5, the hours of winter were already on them. Stars were beginning to dot the sky, and Armin felt that he was close enough to touch them.

"It's like I'm flying!" He called back, turning his head to look at Eren with a grin still on his face. Bright yellow-green eyes met his, and he gave a happy chirp.

"Fly-iing," Eren repeated. Armin gave a giddy laugh and nodded his head. He looked back to the forest around him before briefly letting his eyes close to feel the high-up breeze. Despite himself, he let out a loud yell; long and like a shout of victory into the evening air. It was a pure feeling of... excitement? Happiness? Some crazy, wonderful mix of both of them and more.

Eren let out a happy sounding hum, pleased to see the smaller express joy. He didn't know what a "scrapyard" was but trusted Armin that it was a good and safe place. Armin's excitement brought him his own, especially with how happy Armin was. It made Eren feel happy, and walking through the trees to a new place was just too easy to be excited about.

Eren stopped his walking suddenly and looked down at something on the road. Armin looked up at Eren to question the sudden stop but followed his gaze down. It was a car, the front of it smashed in by what he guessed was the tree right in front of it. He noticed the crushed cans on the passenger seat and quickly guessed what it was.

"Oh, that must be Hannes' car." He looked up to Eren. "This must be where he saw you!" Eren tilted his head and looked back to the car. His eyes widened, as if he remembered it suddenly. He looked at Armin again, nodding his head.

"Was scared. Ran," Eren said. Armin realized he was talking about Hannes, and he remembered the man had talked about how he ran after the titan "tried to eat him."

He felt annoyed by that honestly, knowing damn well that it wasn't at all what happened. Sure, he wasn't actually there, but Hannes was a notorious drunk and was no stranger to exaggeration. He also knew Hannes never meant any harm, but he shouldn't spread things like that! Eren wasn't something to be feared, and Armin was a little upset about it. All things considered though, it was better a rambling drunk than someone else finding him before Armin did. It could've ended badly for Eren, which Armin hated the thought of, and he most likely wouldn't have been able to meet him. He hated that thought too. Still, he didn't think he'd ever be ok with someone being scared of Eren like that. Completely Unnecessary.

"Well, don't worry about that ok? He's just a drunk; he doesn't know what he's talking about," Armin told him and looked down the other end of the road where the town was, where Hannes would have run home. Then, he noticed two lights- headlights- coming from that direction. His eyes widened as he felt the sudden spike of anxiety and called up to Eren.

"Shit! Eren! There's a car coming! We need to hide!" Eren looked at the oncoming car and back at Armin, tilting his head with confusion. He didn't seem to know what Armin was talking about.

"Hide! You know! It's when you- you know- you-" Armin stumbled with his words, not really knowing how to explain what hiding meant. "JUST GET BEHIND SOMETHING QUICK!"

Eren looked around frantically and quickly jumped into the trees, hands cupped around his small companion. There was a rather large boulder thankfully close to the road, and Eren was able to hide them both behind it. He lifted his hands so that Armin could peek from the top of the boulder.

He looked above the boulder, watching as the vehicle drove up to where they were. It was a tow truck he realized, and it stopped by the wrecked vehicle. A figure in dark clothing walked out of the truck to hook the car. Hannes must have sold it or something.

Armin looked back up to Eren, quickly noticing something. "Eren! Your ears!" They peeked over the boulder, which would have given them away. Eren responded by swiftly pushing his ears back.

The smaller watched quietly as the person finished their job of attaching the car to their truck's hook. They got in their truck and drove on, beaten car dragging behind them. After a few moments, Eren got up from their hiding spot, Armin still on his palm.

"That was close, good job Eren," he said, looking up at the titan. Eren chirped, ears perking up. Armin laughed at that; he really liked how animated his ears were. "Alright Eren, I'm pretty sure it's ok now, let's keep going." Eren gave a nod, and they continued on their way to the scrapyard.

Soon enough, they made it there. The place was huge, perfect for Eren to hide. There were literal mountains of junk, some almost 15 feet high. The whole area, much like his house, was a good distance away from the town (even more so than his house). It was surrounded by thick forest trees, the only sign of civilization being the empty and old road that led here. No one would find Eren here. Plus, there was plenty of bits and pieces Armin could show Eren. Even if it was all just scrap metal and junk, he was confident they'd find some neat things here and there. Even cars weren't that familiar to Eren; there was really so much Armin could teach him.

"I think there should be good for now." Armin pointed to a spot a few feet away, behind a particularly large scrap pile. Eren brought them both to where Armin indicated, and sat down. He placed his hand on the ground and let Armin step off his palm. The titan looked around at the different pieces of junk, already curious about his surroundings.

Armin took a seat next to him, sitting on an old tire. He took out his notebook and pen that was still in his bag from before. He was going to write down some notes, as well as keep a log of each day, starting with when they first met. Eren took the time to poke at the junk heap, curious as to what all the scraps were. Armin looked up and smiled from his spot on the tire, still not starting on the writing.

"You can pick things up Eren, part of why I picked this place was to show you things and teach you about them," He explained. "If you see anything interesting, show me!" Armin encouraged him, and Eren gave a quick nod. He looked back at the junk pile, and tried to pull out a particularly shining piece of metal.

Unfortunately for the both of them, it was a poor piece to pick out. The junk pile started to collapse. Luckily they were both a safe distance from getting buried under the scraps, but that wasn't the only concern. Armin jumped off his seat and backed away as the pile collapsed, and Eren did the same (though he simply just scooted back, still sitting).

Armin grimaced, eyes shut tight as the falling cars and other scrapped metal fell with noises much too loud. After what seemed like much too long, there was finally silence. Eren looked at Armin, shoulders raised up and ears bent down in obvious shame. Armin tried to ease some of his guilt, "It's ok Eren- it was an accident. Just try and be more careful-" Before he could finish, one last car fell to the ground. The impact caused the car's horn to blare, an easy sound to give them away.

Panicking, Armin tried to think of what to do. He looked at Eren, pointing at the noisy vehicle. "Turn it off! Smash it!" He yelled. Eren quickly grabbed the car and started hitting it with his other hand closed in a fist. No luck, the car's horn was still loud as ever. Eren was obviously nervous too, and tried to smash it against the ground, and attempted to cover it with his hands. The muffled noise came through, and at this point, Armin was sure they'd be caught. Eren let out a nervous and frustrated groan. Without knowing what else to do, the titan then grabbed the vehicle, and threw it at least 100 yards away, the loud noise distorting from the distance

Armin stared at the car in terror. With a distant crash, the horn could no longer be heard. However, it was much too late, Armin saw a building's lights flick on to the left of where the car had landed. It looked like a metal hut, almost like an old bunker repurposed into a house or office. He didn't have time to ponder on it though, as the lights were a visible indication that someone was there and heard the ruckus.

"Shit!" He turned over to his companion. "Eren! Try and sneak behind the building, they won't find you there! And make sure that car is quiet! I'll try and cover us!" He yelled back as he rushed towards the building. Eren followed his instructions, trying to sneak behind the junk piles to the other side of the strange building.

"ALRIGHT WHO'S OUT THERE!?" A voice yelled, accompanied by a woman opening the front door with a crowbar in hand. It turned out to be the same lady from the diner, Sasha. Armin walked up to her, breathing heavy from running.

She lowered her hand with the crowbar, realizing who it was. "Oh, it's you, lizard boy."

He gave an awkward laugh, "Armin."

"Right! I knew that already." She coughed. She then suddenly furrowed her brow, and pointed at him, "Hey... what the hell are you doing here?"

Armin failed to find a good excuse that quickly. "Oh- um- uh-" He stumbled.

She laughed and opened the door to what he could now see was her house. "I didn't mean to make you nervous kid; you're not in trouble, don't worry. Come inside!"

"Um, thank you..." Armin said as he was led into the house. He looked around; the place was a sort of organized chaos. It was a small place, with just a couch, sofa chair, and a small T.V. in the main area. There was a kitchen, and another door which he guessed led to the bedroom. The rest of the place was littered with cans and empty food wrappers. Plates were stacked on every possible surface, and papers covered almost everywhere else. He thought some of the writing on one was a shopping list or recipe of some sort.

"Sorry 'bout the mess. I don't get a lot of visitors," Sasha told him.

"Oh, it's fine... um, about the intrusion- I'm really sorry..." He started. Sasha brushed him off.

"No worries! I didn't mean to give you a scare; you have no idea how many people try to steal all that junk outside," she explained. "Anyway, have a seat and then you can tell me what's goin' on."

Armin sat down on the couch while Sasha put away the crowbar. "Um, well... I- I heard about the scrapyard before and... and I wanted to bring a friend along." He omitted certain parts, but he technically wasn't lying. "Nothing stupid like drinking or something, I just thought it'd be fun to visit, I've never been up here before so-"

"Aww, so a little date with a friend! That's sweet. All my friends are still in high school, the bastards." Armin found that to be odd, as Sasha appeared to be about the same age as Mikasa. He couldn't think of anyone close enough to her age that was still in his school. Although, he never really paid any attention to his classmates.

"Yeah... I didn't mean to cause a bunch of noise, sorry again..."

"Not a problem! So is it that girl from the diner... Mikasa, right?" Sasha asked, who seemed to be eager to hear his answer to that.

"Oh uh yeah, Mikasa. Um, she's not the friend out there though-" Then, he realized something, and quickly stood up.

"Oh no! I- she doesn't know I'm out here! Do you have a phone?" He completely forgot that Mikasa would be home by now.

"Easy kid! Yeah, right over there, help yourself." She pointed to a phone hung on the wall. Armin thanked her and ran up to the phone, dialing his house number. No answer. Ok, so maybe she was still at work. He tried the diner's number and waited nervously as it rang.

"Hello?" A calm voice came from the other end; it was Mikasa.

"Mikasa! Hi! You're still at work...?" Armin asked in relief.

"Yeah, I have another long shift today, I was about to call you actually."

"Oh, ok. I just wanted to make sure. I might go out later though; the weather is nice today for the forest." He lied, but it was enough for Mikasa not to question where he was and go looking for him. Since school was over, she wouldn't worry about him staying up late either.

"Alright, just don't go too far ok? I'm going straight to sleep when I get home; I'm exhausted," she told him.

"I'm sure. No worries Mikasa, I'll be safe, talk to you later," he said. Once Mikasa gave her farewell from the other end of the phone, he hung it up back on the wall. He sighed in relief.

"Sounds like it's all good, yeah?" Sasha asked, now she was in the kitchen fixing up some coffee.

"Yeah, thank you," Armin said, sitting back down on the couch. Sasha joined him shortly after, taking a seat on the sofa with her mug of coffee.

"So, your friend, where are they?" She asked, taking a sip. She let out a loud hum from the drink, enjoying it maybe a bit too much.

"Um.. he's-" Before he could explain, he heard a loud crash coming from behind the house. Following that, a noise was heard which he knew to be a frustrated grunt from Eren.

Sasha immediately stood up, putting her mug on the floor. "What the fuck-? Did you hear that?" She rushed to the corner to grab her crowbar again.

"No, wait! Stop!" Armin attempted to grab her attention. She was too focused on the mysterious sounds, already running out. Armin chased after her.

Outside, she looked around for the source of the noise. Armin was at the edge of the doorway, watching as she turned back to look at something behind the house. Her eyes widened. Armin quickly looked up at where her gaze led. Eren was hunched behind the house, attempting to fix another collapsed pile of scrap metal.

"Oh my god," Sasha said with her eyes and mouth almost comically wide with terror.

Armin ran up to her, trying to explain before something bad happened. "Please listen! He isn't gonna hurt y-"

"RUN ARMIN!" She grabbed his arm, dragging him away from the titan. Eren turned and noticed what was happening. His eyes narrowed and ears went down as he growled with anger. He jumped, something Armin had not even thought about him being able to do, and with a loud thump, he shook the ground as he landed in front of Sasha. He hissed at her, steam escaping his mouth. Armin's protests still fell on Sasha's deaf ears, too freaked out to listen to him. She stumbled back and turned to run the opposite direction, still dragging Armin along. The escape was short-lived, as her path was suddenly blocked with a giant fist that slammed against the ground to block her way. She fell back, falling to the ground.

Armin fell as well, landing next to her on the ground. Finally, she registered him talking to her. "It's ok! He isn't going to hurt you!" Sasha took heavy breathes as she looked at him like he was completely insane.

Before he could explain more, a large hand pinched the leather collar on the back of Sasha's jacket, lifting her up. Eren glared at her, anger evident on his whole face. He let out another hiss, causing Sasha to tremble as she stared at him with wide eyes of terror.

"NO! EREN!" Armin yelled from below. He frantically called to Eren, waving his hands around to get his attention.

"Don't squash her! DO NOT SQ- squash... her..." His voice trailed off as Eren looked at him, calming down.

Armin took a few breaths, and said, "This is Sasha. We like Sasha."

Eren looked at the still terrified Sasha, who he still had dangling in front of his face. "Sasha," he said quickly, causing her to flinch.

 

\--

 

Sasha brought a shaking hand up to her mouth, attempting to calmly drink her coffee (and failing). She wore an extremely nervous and forced smile. "So... he's uh... friendly?" She took a sip and leaned back against the lawn chair she had out.

Armin spoke from his spot on the hood of an old car. "Yeah. He's very nice."

"Uh-huh..." Was her response. She didn't take her gaze off from the massive titan. Armin also watched Eren as he sat cross-legged a couple of feet away, examining an old truck. He looked at Armin, and stretched his skin in that way that meant a smile.

Armin giggled, returning his smile. "You're really nice, right Eren?" The titan responded with a grunt, steam escaping.

Sasha looked back and forth between the two, almost at loss for words. "Wait you can talk to him!?" Eren tilted his head, as if that was the stupidest question to ask.

"Well yeah, he can't say a lot of things yet but he's learning, and he understands things very well!" He proudly explained.

"Holy hell, Armin. That's... fucking crazy." She looked back at the titan, taking another sip of coffee, a little less shaky this time. "You said he even has a name?"

"Yes. Eren," Armin replied.

"Eren, huh? You named him yourself?"

"No, he told me. It's the only thing he remembers right now, he doesn't even know where he's from..." He trailed off a bit, before starting up again. "But! He was able to remember his name, and that's a start."

"Right... well, not bad." She let herself laugh a bit, slowly coming off edge. Armin laughed too, glad to see that Sasha was taking the whole thing well.

He cleared his throat with a cough, preparing to say something. "...He needs a safe place to stay..." He fiddled with an end of his jacket, looking at Sasha expectantly.

Sasha said nothing. Instead, she just stood up, poured out the rest of her coffee on to the ground, and turned to walk back into her house. She shut the door behind her, leaving the two outside.

 

\---

 

About 37 minutes later, Armin knocked on the door for a third time.

"Come on!" He called out to Sasha. "There's plenty of room here; it's perfect!"

"Go away." He heard muffled from the other side of the door.

"I can have him break down the door! You know I could!"

"Armin!" Came the frustrated response. She flung the door open. "I can't have it stay here!" She said, still grabbing onto the doorknob with one hand.

"HE. Not _it_ ," Armin said sternly.

"Whatever!" She threw her hands in the air, letting them land to either side of her. "You don't even know where HE'S from! Or- or what the hell HE is!" She pointed a hand to Eren, who was now lying down. He tilted his head.

" _He's_ my friend," Armin said with complete certainty. Eren gave a whining sound from behind him.

Sasha pinched the space between her eyebrows, and let out a long sigh. "Yeah and what am I? Am I your friend?" She mumbled more to herself than to Armin. She left the door opened as she lumbered toward the couch. She kept rambling words Armin couldn't quite make out that ended with, "God, I'm tired." She sighed as she said that, and fell ungracefully onto the couch.

"So... he can stay?" Armin asked from his spot by the door.

"Tonight. Tomorrow- tomorrow I dunno, but tonight," She said with exhaustion in her tone.

Armin smiled and gave a small sigh of relief. He quietly shut the door and walked to where Eren was laying. Eren's eyes followed Armin as he walked up to him. He gave a soft grunt, and Armin placed a hand on Eren's nose.

"Alright Eren, you can stay here for tonight. Sleep well," He said, rubbing his nose.

Eren gave a rumbling sound, and let his eyes drift shut. Armin softly smiled and patted him once more before heading back to his house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have a good bunch of the story written out but if there are comments on anything or w/e let me know
> 
> i might change the next chapter a little bit, it feels like there's plenty of armin learning about eren but not enough about armin teaching things to eren


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so some stuff from eren's pov is in this chapter which is great bc boy is he fond of armin. i understand

Armin crawled into his room via the window, using the tree by his house as means of reaching it. The long night turned into dawn, and with no sleep, he was ready to collapse in bed. He fell onto the floor with a grunt. He groaned as he got up, closing the window. Bags were clear under his eyes as he dragged his feet toward to the bed. He lifted the covers to climb in, only to stop from the sound of his door being opened.

"You're up already?" Mikasa asked. Armin stood there, considering the consequences of yelling and rolling up in the covers.

Deciding that wouldn't go over well, he simply replied, "Just making the bed..." as he placed the cover back on the mattress.

"You need to come downstairs," she said, leaving him in his room as she walked away.

Too tired to question her, he followed a few moments later. He walked down the stairs with the exhaustion evident all over him. He then walked over to the living room, where all fatigue was immediately evaporated from his face, and instead replaced with shock.

"Nice seeing you again!" The officer from before looked over from where he was conversing with Mikasa.

"What?" Was all he responded with.

"He says he wants to ask you a few questions before leaving back to Rose," she explained. Mikasa clearly was as unhappy to see the man as he was, though she was able to hide it with her usual stoic expression.

"About... what? Exactly?" Armin asked. He wasn't pretending to be clueless this time. He really didn't know what else the man could want from him. Plus, he knew there was no other evidence from his side other than the BB gun, which he already covered up.

"Just a few things about the power station, and the train crash not too far from your house." The officer gave an uncanny grin.

"Would you like something to drink, sir?" Mikasa asked.

"Some coffee would be nice, thank you." He tipped his head and proceeded to pull out a small notebook from his suit jacket. He began to write a few things down. Mikasa gestured Armin to follow her to the kitchen.

"Why don't you offer to take him to the general store, the one with the ice cream parlor," she said. The look on her face indicated that she was suggesting more than what she was letting on. Armin figured the officer couldn't ask anything too confidential out in public like that. Plus, he thought of multiple plans then, all ideas on how to lose the officer.

He nodded as Mikasa finished up the cup of coffee, bringing it to the officer. Armin was going to follow but was interrupted by the phone ringing against the kitchen wall. He walked over to pick it up, closing the door that led to where Mikasa and the officer were now sitting.

"Hello?" He answered.

"I said he could stay _the night!_ It's morning now Armin!" Sasha exclaimed from the other end of the phone. She was pacing back and forth her small living room, Eren visible from the window. He was peering in at Sasha as she was talking to Armin.

"I know! I'll get back as soon as I can ok? I just got home like 30 minutes ago!" He whispered into the phone.

"GAH! You have 1 hour!" She demanded. Eren gazed over at something from the side of the house and leaned over to get it.

"I don't have an hour! There's this weird guy here who wants to ask questions-" He heard a knock on the door. This was awful.

"What's that supposed to mean!?" Sasha looked out the window to Eren, who was now shaking a bag of something. "Armin get over- WAIT." She did a double take, dropping the phone once she realized what was happening. "HEY STOP IT!" She waved her hands at Eren, tripping over herself and falling, "STOP IT!" She practically shrieked as she got back up and rushed out to the titan.

The officer opened the door, and Armin quickly responded to her yelling with, "I-I can't talk right now BYE!" He slammed the phone back against the wall, turning to the officer.

"Who was that, friend from school?" Another uncanny smile from the officer.

"Uh yeah, she's new," he lied.

"I see. Well, your mom said we ought to get going, she's heading to work."

"Oh- um, ok," he said, not bothering to correct him. He bid Mikasa goodbye as she went on her way to work while he and the officer headed toward the general store.

 

\--

 

Sasha stood outside, giving the titan a very stern lecture. He didn't pay much attention to her, continuing to examine the object in his hand. It was a large, lumpy sack which, when he shook it, a few potatoes dropped down.

"There are two things in this yard! About 90 percent is useless metal!" She yelled up at Eren, who was sitting cross-legged as he played with the large sack of potatoes.

"The very small, very IMPORTANT 10%, is located to your left! Which is where I keep all the stuff I EAT!" She pointed to the titan's left, her right, to a patio-like area that was littered with sacks and barrels. Eren looked over to the collection, then back at Sasha, blinking.

"They're not GREAT when they're raw _anyway_. You're supposed to heat them up! You know! Boil them?" She yelled at him. Eren looked at the bag, shaking it again to drop some of the small brown objects on his palm.

"If you WANT to mess around with something, I'd suggest the 90% of shitty metal! But what you currently have- BY YOUR _MOUTH-_ ARE MY POTATOES!"

Eren tilted his head at her, looking back to the objects in his hand. "Ta-toes?" He asked, and proceeded to open his mouth and let out steam onto his palm.

"Forget it. Forget it!" Sasha said, more to herself as she turned to leave. She mumbled to herself, not knowing how she was going to deal with this. There was a soft thud on the ground beside her. She looked down, back up, and then back down in a double-take.

"Wh-what the-?" She leaned down to grab the potatoes that were tossed on the ground next to her. She picked one up, noticing it was warm. Ignoring the fact that it was on the ground and by the mouth of a titan, she took a bite. The potato was perfectly heated; the inside was warm and mushy like it was taken out of a boiling pot. She hummed from the good taste and turned over to look at Eren.

"Not bad."

 

\--

 

Armin sat on a stool next to the officer, mixing some crushed chocolate into the tall cup of vanilla ice cream. He really didn't want to eat any god damn ice cream right now. He just wanted to leave to meet Eren and Sasha.

The officer sat next to him, with his own glass of ice cream. He mixed the crushed chocolate Armin had given him into the cool treat.

"So Armin, I assume you can tell what I'm going to ask you?" He took a bite of the ice cream.

"Um, the power station?"

"Hmm. Not the power station itself, but what was there," he said. Armin looked at him, feigning ignorance.

The officer laughed, "Don't look so nervous! Really, I just need some information before I head back to Rose. My... coworkers, let's call them, are waiting for something of substance."

"Your... coworkers?" Armin asked.

"Right. Two others who work in my department. Annie Leonhart and Reiner Braun, respectively," he responded. He took another bite of the ice cream.

"Am I allowed to ask what exactly you guys do?" Armin inquired.

"Well, no. But tell you what, you tell me about the giant, and I'll give you some insight as to what we do in our division." Jesus, the guy was trying to bribe him like he was a child wanting to know a Super Cool Secret.

"...giant?" He asked.

Sweat beaded on the man's forehead, and he breathed to compose himself. "A giant, yes. There have been reports of a giant, humanoid, around here." He explained. "We've had one from a Mr. Hannes, and another report from a train conductor after the train crash. That, plus the damaged power station leads me to believe there is something in need of investigation..."

"I'm... sorry sir, I don't think I understand. Hannes is a drunk, and the train conductor had to have been concussed," Armin explained. "There was a bad storm before the power station was damaged, and I already told you, I didn't see anything on my hike."

The officer slammed his hands on the counter. "Listen kid. I have to get back to Rose today, and if I don't get any information, the case is dropped." He pointed a finger at Armin. "I know there's something here, but I need proof. My coworkers are VERY unlikely to trust me with just two witnesses. So cough up the details and-" A sickening stomach rumble emitted from the officer. Even more sweat appeared on his forehead.

"Just. Just hold that thought and stay right there!" The man yelled as he ran to the bathroom, leaving Armin on the counter with the ice cream glasses.

Armin hopped off his seat and swiftly left the store to stop by his house and grab his bicycle. He was glad he thought of putting the chocolate laxatives in the officer's ice cream.

 

\---

 

Finally making it to the scrapyard, he rushed to where he could see Eren was sitting. However, he was surprised to see that it wasn't complete havoc and mayhem like Sasha made it sound. Instead, Sasha was standing by Eren, giving him instructions and pointing to something he was holding. Upon closer inspection, Armin realized Sasha had a grill next to her, where she was cooking something. Eren held what looked like to be some carrots, and with Sasha's instruction, carefully let out a stream of hot steam from his mouth.

It was mildly disgusting.

"What are you doing!?" He called to her as he got off his bike and rushed up to them. "I spent all day trying to get rid of this crazy guy, _stressed_ beyond belief thinking about what was going on here-" He paused, gesturing toward Eren. "And when I get here- you're- you're using him as an oven!"

"Hey! Be thankful your buddy here didn't ruin all my good food!" She finally looked at Armin, who was now standing next to her. "This guy cuts cooking time by like, 80% or something; I'm serious." She turned to the grill, which Armin could now see was heating up bread buns. "The bread is too delicate for him though, so I'm leaving the veggies to him," she explained.

Armin crossed his arms over his chest. "He's not an oven."

"Listen Mr. Smart Guy, I know food, why would you let such talent go to waste?"

"Go to waste? He's a titan! He's capable of so much more than... heating up your potatoes." He gazed down at a sack of the potatoes. "Where did you even get this many..."

"Oh uh... there's a farm I... visit."

"Oh my god you stole them."

"It's a big farm! No one will miss them."

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that." He looked up to Eren, who was watching their conversation. "I've felt his steam before; it's not hot enough to boil something."

"Maybe he's got like, separate levels of heat to control or something," Sasha offered, not really caring about the scientifics, she just wanted more of the food.

"I guess so..." Armin said. That was interesting, the idea of Eren being able to level his temperature a little bit. "Eren, you don't have to... heat up food anymore," Armin told him. Eren nodded, tossing the veggies he was holding behind him. Sasha whined, causing Armin to hold in a laugh.

"You have no respect for culinary art."

"I guess not. But Eren's not an oven." He told her again. 

"Right, right. _'capable of so much more~'_ ," She mocked him, holding up entwined hands to her face.

He willed down a blush, saying, "I didn't say it like that!" He turned to Eren, ignoring the laugh he could hear from Sasha.

"I'm going to record some things down about Eren now, so I'm ignoring you." He went to grab a discarded tire to use as a seat.

"Ok whatever, I'm finishing my burgers," she said, going back to her grill.

Despite her carefree attitude towards most things, Armin felt like he could trust her. She wouldn't tell anyone about him or Eren and even let the titan stay at her scrapyard. Plus, she was very nice to both himself and Eren. Armin was glad to say that the two of them were able to make a new friend, someone they could trust. So, he wouldn't mind if she heard some of their journaling and conversation.

Armin sat on the tire. He finally was able to write down everything that happened. He started with the encounter at the power station (and torn off antenna). He wrote about the rest of their time together too, making sure to write down observations and happenings of each day. He dedicated a separate page for Eren's appearance. He jotted down Eren's pointed ears and yellow-green eyes. He made sure to write down the heated skin, mentioning how the inner-temperature would be above boiling point.

"How would you describe Eren's physique?" He asked Sasha, who was still messing around with her culinary escapades behind him.

"Hmm. Gross and Muscular," she stated.

"He's not gross!" He said, not turning from the opened notebook before him. He was pretty muscular though. The toned muscles were obvious all along his body, but still lean.

"Whatever you say." He heard her flip over a patty.

Armin wrote down the previous night, and then moved to the next page to record today's notes when Sasha came up next to him with a paper plate that held a burger.

"Hungry?" She offered the plate to Armin, who gladly took it.

"Yes actually, thank you," he said. She sat on the ground next to him, already halfway done with one of the two burgers she made for herself.

"Not a problem. Does he need something?" She pointed a thumb at Eren.

"No, he doesn't need to eat, right Eren?" He looked up at his friend, who gave a nod.

"Wow, that's tragic," she said between mouthfuls. "So how long are we talking about hiding him here?" She suddenly asked.

"I'm... I'm not sure." He told her honestly. "I want him to be able to live safely among people, but I don't want to rush that, I know how people would react." It was true, even someone like Sasha could see that. Eren wasn't something you could just present to the town and expect a peaceful meeting to go over.

"Yeah..." She replied. "Even I freaked out over him, but once you get to know him, he's not too bad."

A smile crept onto Armin's face. _He's wonderful._ "Yeah, he's... he's really something..." He took a bite of his burger, looking at Eren as he inspected the bits and pieces of a small junk pile. "I'll introduce him to people slowly, starting with Mikasa."

He caught Sasha perk up at the mention of Mikasa's name, but said nothing. "Sounds good to me." The brunette told him, now on her second burger. "Well, I don't think I mind him staying here for a while, I'm on your guys' side."

Armin beamed. "Really? Thank you, Sasha!" He said. He was so glad she was ok with him staying there, he didn't know what else they would do if they couldn't.

"Yeah, yeah." She waved him off, finishing off her burger.

Armin took the time to finish his, before speaking again. "Hey, Eren," he called up to the titan who paused his fiddling with what looked like an old showerhead to look at Armin.

"Would you like to read together again? I've got about 2 hours before I should head home." Eren's ears perked up as he nodded with a grunt. He dropped the metal scrap on a nearby heap and positioned himself to lay on the floor just like he was at the barn house.

He giggled, and got up from his spot on the tire to sit closer to Eren's face. He took out the book from his bag and located the folded page that marked where they had left off.

"Aw, a little bedtime story?" Sasha joked, even though it was only 4 in the afternoon. "I'd join you two, but I've got stuff to do, mainly sitting in front of my T.V."

"We'll see you later then," Armin said to her as she walked away. She left the grill and the couple sacks of food out, but he assumed she was just going to take care of it later.

In all honesty, he was glad she wouldn't join them. He felt a little silly admitting it, but reading with Eren was special, and having another join them just felt wrong. It was a time dedicated for just the two of them as they escaped into a fantastical world together. Eren seemed to agree, as he didn't fully settle down against his folded arms until she was gone. He eagerly waited for Armin to start reading to him, eyes giving him undivided attention.

"You know, I should read you the previous book from this author sometime, I think you'll like it."

"World?" Eren asked. Somehow, Armin knew what he meant. He smiled.

"Yeah, it's all about going out on an adventure too. It's shorter and less of an epic... but we can read that next if you want."

Eren grunted in response, confirming that he liked the idea very much.

"Great! Alright, so..." Armin began to read the story. Just like before, it was wonderful. Eren really did get invested by everything he said. He felt so happy reading to Eren, and wished they could do it more.

Much too soon, Armin finished their last chapter for the evening, and closed the book. As he was putting it back in his bag, he hesitated. A thought came to his mind.

"Hey... why don't I get more books for you?" He looked at Eren, who gave a confused sort of humming noise in response. "I could borrow some from the library, maybe some children's fairytales to teach you some reading- oh! and of course some books about animals, maybe some geography books, since you like all those places in the story," he rambled off his ideas, but Eren didn't seem to be lost, so he continued. "I'm sure there's plenty of educational books like that, so I'll be sure to borrow some of those! You have to promise to be careful with them though- not that I think you'd tear them up or anything, but since these are our books, we look at them together." He explained to Eren; the latter looked a little surprised by either his rambling or the specifics of what he was saying.

He coughed, composing himself from what he felt like was going on and on about what they could do together. "Just- since we're sharing them, we both have to be careful with the books and take good care of them."

The titan seemed taken aback by the suggestion, but he didn't protest. He took a moment to respond, not making any sounds or saying any words, and just thought of what to say. He seemed to really think about Armin's words, and carefully focused a lot on what to respond with. A small bit of steam drifted from between his teeth before he finally decided on the right words.

"Promise. keep. safe." He said slowly, eyes not leaving Armin's own gaze.

Barely even noticing the tight feeling in his own chest, he smiled softly at Eren. "Thank you, Eren... you're a good friend." The titan made a rumbling sound at that. Armin gathered his belongings into his bag and stood up.

He walked up to Eren and patted him on the nose. "Have a goodnight, Eren." The titan's eyes drifted shut, and the low rumbling sound- no, it was definitely _purring._ The low purr was heard from Eren, appreciating the contact. Armin's chest felt a little tighter then, and he wasn't even sure from what exactly. His hand lingered again, as he just stared at it against Eren's dark skin.

With some effort, he pulled his hand away. The purring slowly faded and was replaced by the steady breaths of a sleeping Eren, quiet even with his large size. After a few more moments, he headed home.

 

\---

 

Eren didn't like it when Armin left, that much he knew.

Knew.

What did he know?

Thinking was difficult; it was hard for him to grasp things.

Things.

What things?

A mist. Armin had taught him that word while he was reading to him. He showed him a map in the book, and pointed to different places from the story he read to him. "Misty Mountains." He knew mountains, just like he knew "hills" and "forest" and "river." Armin had to tell him what misty was, what mist was.

_It's kind of like clouds that are low to the ground; it's a form of water. Usually it's hard to see through mist, it's everywhere and you can't quite make things out in it._

That's what Armin told him, and he felt like that's what was in his head a lot. He couldn't get through the mist to remember.

Remember what?

Frustrating. Eren understood that word; he felt it when he couldn't find answers to Armin's questions. Like where he came from, or what happened. He didn't know, couldn't form any sort of response as to why he didn't either. Why did he know some things like what water was, what mountains were, what it meant when Armin called him his "friend."

_friend._

Happy. Eren understood that word too; he felt it when he was with Armin. He felt it when he would read to him and when he would laugh. He felt it when Armin taught him new things and when he heard him talk about the world. He knew what sad meant too; he realized he knew lots of feelings. Sad. Angry. Happy. Tired. Lonely.

Eren didn't like it when Armin left, that much he knew.

 

\---

 

Mikasa had arrived home about a half hour after Armin got there. He was already in his room but went downstairs to greet her.

"How was work?" He asked as he stepped off from the stairs.

"Incredibly annoying, more than usual." She took off the work apron and tossed it to the ground next to her. "That idiot from Rose stopped by, asking people if they saw anything." Armin gulped, but Mikasa didn't catch it. "How'd you shake him off?"

"I uh- I put choco-lax in his ice cream." Mikasa actually let out the beginning of snort before catching herself. Armin felt proud of that.

"You're much too smart for your own good." She playfully remarked.

"I try." That earned a small smile from Mikasa. She let out a tired sigh.

"Well, you'll be pleased to know he went back to Rose. Since there's nothing here, we won't be seeing him again, I imagine," she said.

After they had dinner together, Mikasa bid him goodnight as she went to her bed. Armin went to his own, and found trouble sleeping.

_There is something here. What if he comes back?_ Armin thought. He let his anxiety get to him, and it left him laying in bed as he stared at the ceiling.

Logically, the guy had nothing to go off of. That's why he was so frustrated with Armin when he didn't give him any information. The case would be dropped, that's what the guy said. Still, Armin worried. He felt like there was something he didn't see, something he didn't connect to the bigger picture. Why _did_ an official of some sort come all the way from Rose to follow up on the ramblings of a drunk? Surely there were plenty of instances like that.

And then there was all that about the guy's "coworkers" or whatever the fuck. What exactly was his "department" and why did it consist of only three people? It made no sense.

Armin groaned. He tried not to think about the government usually. They took so much pride in safety and protection over their people, and he hated it. Armin felt like their confidence would be their downfall, and the paranoia of supposed attacking nations made things worse. They were so focused on protecting, building up defense in case of an attack from outside, but what if there was a threat inside? They never seemed to care, only pushing out propaganda and bullshit about how they were a great nation and everyone didn't need to worry about the Big Scary Outside.

He tried to take his mind off it, reminding himself that the officer wouldn't be back without any more evidence. He decided to settle his thoughts on Eren, and it seemed to work. Slowly the anxiety was replaced with images of his titan friend and far off places they could talk about together. Soon after, he drifted off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we're introducing more characters in the next chapter and some ROMANCE
> 
> the beginnings of romance


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i dont have anything to say uhhhh i listened to emotional zelda music while proof-reading this haha

There was no sign of any more interference with nosey government officers or investigators in the week that came along. Armin was relieved as his worry slowly faded each day until he felt completely content. Eren was learning more and more every day, and even showed more of his personality as the days passed. He was already very open with Armin, but being in the middle of a forest with no friends or memory could take a toll on anyone. Of course he'd be disoriented, he would need time to settle down. He did just that, and fantastically, Armin thought. He seemed comfortable at Sasha's scrapyard and didn't seem _too_ bored all the time.

Of course, with his personality showing, it gave Armin more opportunity to learn about his titan friend. Eren appeared to express boredom, and frequently. There were times when Armin would visit and helped Sasha out around the scrapyard, or would focus on logging things in his notebook, or would be lost in thought. All were situations which would lead Eren to snort or grunt, attempting to get Armin's attention. Armin would look at Eren, asking what was wrong. Eren would then let out a low groan, something that even Armin did when he was bored. Armin would laugh, and quickly wrapped up whatever he was doing to spend time with his friend.

Despite the disinterest in helping Sasha most of the time and not always liking when Armin was recording things in his notebook, he was still invested in lots of other things. Armin had followed through with his suggestion of more books to read to Eren, and for the most part, Eren enjoyed them. Armin had borrowed a few children's book to teach Eren how to say basic words and sentences. Eren got frustrated with some of them, since they were only children's stories, the characters often displayed common mistakes and flaws that kids were supposed to learn from. He hated it when a character was selfish or arrogant, which Armin would have to respond with assuring him they'll learn. Still, he enjoyed it when Armin was reading to him, and he seemed to really appreciate being taught how to communicate better.

Along with better communication, Eren acted more and more like a human every day. Armin loved how Eren would wait eagerly for Armin to turn the book and show him whatever picture was displayed on the page, much like he would do as a kid (and if he were as open about it as Eren, he still liked seeing pictures in the books). Even things like rolling his eyes or grunting in boredom or frustration was a sign of the clear personality he had. Of course, Sasha didn't appreciate the apparent attitude Eren had, but Armin would be lying if he didn't think it was charming in a way.

The titan was also curious and determined. When his mind was set on something, he'd follow through with it. Sometimes Sasha needed help sorting large pieces of scrap like cars and other large vehicles. Before she would finish asking, Eren was already lifting the item (and sometimes caused a few others to fall). Sasha called him "impulsive," but Armin didn't see it that way. Sure, he seemed to be more about action than thought, but it was something Armin realized he admired. It wasn't like he didn't think, he certainly did, and was eager to find new things and mess with anything and everything he found. And he was so open and honest about how he felt, even with his limited vocabulary.

He was excited to hear about the same things Armin liked to read about, like their story, but he also showed his disdain for similar things too. He didn't like the villains and got frustrated or sad when the heroes were scared or wanted to turn back. They seemed to have a lot in common and felt the same way about things. Armin thought it was a very nice feeling, and was happy to have made a friend like Eren.

Eren felt the same way too, even if he couldn't vocalize it well. He tried to show Armin how much he appreciated him and everything he was doing. He was slowly learning to lose his own anxiety about hurting Armin, or anyone, like Sasha. It didn't go away yet, but with Armin just simply reassuring him and just being ok-even _happy-_ with his presence was enough to help him, to let the fear ebb away for even a moment.

He loved Armin's story, and loved learning about all the cool things Armin taught him about from the books he borrowed. He was learning to talk and understand things better from the easier stories. Adding to that, Armin even brought him other books like he promised. Books about all the amazing places in the world that he thought would only be real in their story. There were lots of wonderful sounding places in the world, and it was also a wonderful thing to learn about them with Armin.

He liked the adventure from their story, the really long one that Armin said was his favorite (and he would agree), and he thought it would be a very good thing if he and Armin got to go on one themselves one day. Of course, Eren didn't put it that way himself. He couldn't think of the right words to tell Armin all that and more, and certainly wasn't able to vocalize them. It was a little frustrating at times, maybe even more than a little frustrating, but he hoped one day he could tell Armin; he was determined to.

 

\---

 

Exactly a week and one day from the officer's departure, Armin rode up to the scrapyard like he usually did. Making his way into the scrapyard, he didn't see Eren like he often did. He thought it was little odd, but figured he must be further down assisting Sasha with something.

He parked his bike, and walked further down. Still, no sign of Eren.

_Maybe they were behind her house?_ He wondered.

Making his way behind the house, where only a few piles of junk metal was, he still didn't see Eren. Before he could begin to get worried, a noise came out from behind the perimeter of trees which Sasha's house and the back of it were lined against.

" _Armin,_ " came a rough whisper. He turned around, and sure enough, the owner of the whisper was hiding (not very well) behind the trees.

"Eren!? What's going on?" He asked him as he rushed closer to him. It looked like he tried to quickly jump into the trees, which of course led to smashing most of them to the ground where he was laying on his stomach.

"Someone. Here," he whispered again, as best as he could with his massive size.

Armin was immediately dreading the situation. He gasped and furrowed his brow, looking behind them.

"Where did they go? Is Sasha with them?" He asked in a rushed voice, his hands unconsciously grabbing the strap of his bag.

Eren nodded his head towards Sasha's house. "In there," he said.

"I'm going to go look, stay put ok?" He told Eren, which the latter responded with a nod. Armin walked around back to the front door of the house, straining his ears to hear any conversation. He heard muffled voices, in particular, Sasha's. She sounded on edge about something, and it only furthered Armin's anxiety. He really hoped it wasn't the officer. He really, really hoped.

The door swung open, causing Armin to jump back. Sasha was there, leading someone out.

"Sorry dude, I didn't mean to forget, but I'm busy t-" She stopped mid-sentence when she saw Armin standing by the door. "Oh! Armin, how's it goin'?" She attempted to ask casually, like his appearance was more like a surprised but welcomed visit.

"Wait what?" The stranger asked, turning to Armin. Suddenly, Armin realized, that he recognized the person. He was a classmate from school, Armin could recognize him by his shaved head.

"Oh, this is just another pal of mine, right Armin?" She said.

"Wait you're from school. That kid in front of me n' Jean during history class." The boy said. His brows furrowed then, as if he'd just realized something. "Hey what gives? I thought I was your pal, Sasha!" He said in an offended tone.

"Oh now I'm not allowed more friends? Some of us want to hang out with people who aren't a bunch of losers from high school, Connie," she retorted.

"He's a loser from high school too- wait." Realizing what he just said, the boy, Connie, turned back to look at Armin. "That came out wrong. I just meant you're a high school student too!"

"That's ok, I understand," Armin told him. He didn't seem too bad, albeit maybe a little annoying at times. He seemed to be the nicest of the students that constantly chatted behind him during class.

"So seriously Sasha, what gives?" He looked back at Sasha again. "You spent all this time telling me you're not coming to hang cuz you forgot because you're 'busy'." He said the last parts with air quotes around it. "Then up comes this guy like he's due for a visit!" He gestures to Armin, who was standing there a little awkwardly.

"He helps around the scrapyard! More than you can say of yourself you little shit," she told him. Despite the harsh tone and foul language, she didn't seem completely angry with him though. More like two good friends who took pride in insulting one another.

"Whatever man, without me you don't get access to my family's crops." Oh, so he was the local farmer's son.

"Well you can kiss your fine cooked meals by yours truly goodbye." She stuck her tongue out at him, like a kid.

"So that's how you get all the food?" Armin asked, feeling like he should probably give something to the conversation.

Connie answered before she could. "Yeah, me and the boys meet up with Sasha every other week to... relieve a few items from the farm," he explained. "Normally I'd make sure no one steals from my family, but since Sasha's a pal." He looked at her as he said that, which received a roll of her eyes. "We gather up some of the produce, and in turn Sasha cooks us meals made for the gods."

"He's mad because I forgot that I was supposed to meet him and Jean today." She told Armin.

"Yeah and he's still waiting for me to come back with you in tow."

"I told you! I forgot and I'm too god damn busy today!"

"How can you be busy! What could possibly go on in a dump that makes you miss out on POTATOES!"

"I'll make it up to you! I swear!"

"Sasha?" Armin asked suddenly, trying to ease the quickly escalating argument. Both she and Connie turned to look at him. "You know it's alright if you go, I'll make sure everything is taken care of here." He didn't want there to be any more drama than there already was, and honestly, he thought Sasha really didn't have to sacrifice her own free time for him and Eren. They could handle themselves.

She gave him a knowing look. "You're... sure?" She asked him.

"Yep! I'm sure!" He smiled, urging Sasha to go.

"Alright let's go!" Connie grabbed Sasha by the arm and dragged her along to another end of the scrapyard. He called back to Armin. "Thanks man! We'll be back later, the whole crew!" Before Armin could say anything about that, the pair was gone behind a scrap pile.

Well. Great. He'd just have to figure out what to do about later, for now he ran back over to where Eren was still hiding.

"It's just a friend of Sasha's..." He told him, putting a hand on Eren's nose. "I was so worried... I thought you- we'd be in trouble." Eren nudged very gently against Armin's palm, giving a low groan. "They're gone now, but they might come back later." He removed his hand, taking a few steps back for Eren to come back out. He laughed, Eren looked like he was surrounded by an archway of trees.

"You look like a forest spirit or something. Are you going to give me a riddle?" He joked. Eren looked around himself, not realizing he created a little archway of trees before looking at Armin again to speak.

"Toll," he said, holding a hand out. Armin let out a burst of laughter. Eren was pretending to be a troll from one of the other stories he told him.

"You're not a troll! You look nothing one."

Eren shrugged, causing Armin to laugh again. "I'm serious, trolls are supposed to be ugly and mean usually. You're not like that at all." He walked up to rub his nose again with his palm.

It was true; he didn't think Eren was gross or ugly or anything like that. Even with physical traits like a lipless mouth and massive rows of teeth, stretched out skin and long pointed ears, and big eyes surrounded by dark markings and slightly sunken in. None of it creeped Armin out or seemed uncanny to him. In fact, if he was going to be honest with himself, he was kind of cute. It didn't make much sense, and he didn't think Eren (or Sasha for that matter) would agree with him, but he didn't think he was wrong.

"You're kind of cute, actually," he decided to tell Eren. Eren, in turn, responded with a surprised and loud grunt, ears perking up as he grumbled. This only further proved it, Armin thought to himself. He laughed, and then let what appeared to be a mildly flustered titan come out of the trees. _Ok, so that was adorable, actually._

Armin sat on one of Eren's crossed legs. He was supposed to read more to Eren, but found himself just conversing with him instead, like two close friends.

"-and Connie's ok, he's just a little too loud sometimes," he continued on with his talk about school. "I wouldn't mind but sometimes I'm trying to do schoolwork y'know?" Eren nodded, though he didn't really know what "schoolwork" was.

The smaller sighed, "hopefully they won't cause too much trouble, we'll have to make sure you're kept hidden if they do in fact come back here with Sasha."

Eren nodded again, causing Armin to laugh, "You have no idea what I'm talking about half the time do you?"

Eren grunted, shaking his head in a protest. "Understand!"

"Ok- ok! I just keep forgetting that some things are still unknown to you- I feel like I'm rambling half the time. It's not because of you; it's just- I think that most people think that of me," Armin explained, running a hand against the back of his head as he laughed.

Eren tilted his head, partly in confusion of why Armin would think that, and the other in confusion as to why Armin was... what was the word he used again? Cute. _Cute._

Armin smiled, "I guess I don't have to worry about that kind of stuff with you, you're always so intent on listening to my ramblings, but most people think I'm just a shy nerd- which is probably true-" Eren tilted his head even more, not understanding what he meant.

"Well I mean- I'm smart, I guess-"

"Smart!" Eren confirmed.

"Thanks," Armin smiled. "That's what everyone says; I guess it's my most obvious trait-" once again he was interrupted by his large friend. He was met with a grunt and a shake of Eren's head.

"Smart, yes. But first..." Eren stopped, trying to figure out what to say. His ears twitched as he looked up in thought. His eyes sparked with a sudden idea as he looked back at Armin, "Brave."

"Huh?" Came Armin's shocked response.

"Brave! Strong..." Armin felt his face heat up from the things Eren was saying about him, and it looked like Eren was still thinking of more to say.

Eren lifted a forefinger and hovered it over Armin's head hesitantly, before letting it gently ruffle Armin's hair, "Good. Friend."

Eren removed his hand away from Armin much too soon if the smaller was honest, but Armin still felt warmth from Eren's words. "I- uh-" He stuttered. He ran a hand through his hair, looking off to the side. "Th-thank you..."

After an hour of talking with Eren, Armin decided to help clean Sasha's house, since she left the door unlocked. There was a lot that could be done, and he quickly decided he wasn't going clean everything. He made the decision to gather the dishes and clean those, and also throw away any wrappers and old food. Eren wasn't too happy about that idea, but didn't seem to complain. He took a nap back in the now-archway of trees while Armin was at work, making sure to stay hidden in case they came back. Sure enough, after another hour, Sasha was on her way back. Unfortunately, she wasn't alone.

Armin sighed, considering maybe he should just leave. He didn't want to without saying goodnight to Eren though and yeah he was a little bitter about the possibility of not reading to Eren. There was also the very real danger of Sasha's friends finding Eren. He didn't know how they were like and if they'd go blabbing about it to someone which could lead to disaster. And honestly, he didn't want them to be the next people Eren met. Sasha wasn't even supposed to meet him yet, but he got over that pretty quickly. He wanted Mikasa to see Eren before anyone else; he wanted her to meet him before anyone and hopefully be his friend. He wanted Mikasa to do that more than anyone else, before anyone else.

He opened the door, greeting Sasha as she walked up. "Hi, Sasha, did you have a good time?" Sasha looked at him with an apologetic expression, knowing he didn't want the others here.

"Yep! Got some more corn, I can cook it up for us... are you staying?"

"If you don't mind."

"Not at all! Let's go inside," she said, Armin nodded and walked back into the house.

"What? We always eat outside! It's so nice out come on Sashaaa," Connie whined. The new addition to their group rolled his eyes.

"My house my rules." At least she was still trying to keep Eren hidden, which Armin appreciated.

"Oh my god! You cleaned my house!" Sasha suddenly explained, now running inside to stand in the middle of her now-clean living room. "Thanks a bunch, Armin!" She said, running over to give him a hug.

"It's no problem." He laughed. Sasha led him to the couch, where he sat down. She went outside to drag in what appeared to be another, smaller grill than the one she was previously using for the burgers she cooked last time. While she did that, Connie sat down next to Armin on the couch, dropping the sack of what he assumed was corn on the floor. The other guest, who Armin knew to be Jean, sat on the sofa chair.

"You're that kid from history class then, yeah?" He asked.

"Uh, yeah. I'm a senior though. 18, actually," he replied. Sasha dragged the grill in; the thing barely fit through the door.

"Holy shit Sasha are you serious, just use your fucking oven," Connie laughed. Jean also snickered as Sasha struggled to set it up. She flipped them both off.

"It doesn't taste as good! You gotta get that smoky flavor from the burning charcoal." She practically drooled as she said it. The two of them snickered. "Shut up! You guys don't know anything."

While she cooked their food, they all talked about the trip to the farm, and about school. Armin didn't have much to say, but gave responses and questions whenever he needed to. Soon enough, Sasha handed everyone their meal, and then took a seat on the couch as well since Jean took her own usual seat on the sofa.

"Seriously, why couldn't we just eat outside like usual?" Jean asked.

"Becuase I said so," she mumbled through a mouthful of food.

"That's not an answer!" Connie yelled, almost spilling his plate from his lap.

"He'll freak if you see h-" She caught herself, slapping her hand against her mouth. Her eyes went wide, all too aware of what she did. Armin stiffened, trying his best to stay calm, though his expression was also nervous.

"WHAT!?" Connie yelled, laughing giddily. "Who's he, you've met someone?"

"Don't say it like that! You make it sound like she likes dudes," Jean said, looking at Sasha, who blushed at the remark. "Who's out there, did you finally get a guard dog?"

"Yes! I got a- a dog!" She said, taking a large bite of her meal. She ate when she was nervous, it seemed. The two of her friends looked at each other, and Armin sat there very, very nervous.

Connie stood up, crossing the room. "Let's see him! Why'd you hide your new dog!?" Sasha stood then, blocking the door with both arms outstretched.

"Because! Becuase..." She tried to think of an excuse, but couldn't.

"Because he's nervous!" Armin gave a solid reason as to why they couldn't see the "dog". "She just got him; he's still acclimating and shouldn't be introduced to so many people so soon," he explained to them.

Connie looked disappointed, but obliged and stopped trying to escape the house. "Aw, fine... I wanna see him soon though. Please, Sasha?"

"Maybe if you're not an annoying prick," she responded. Connie let out an annoyed groan but said nothing more.

"Is it tied up in the back or something?" Jean asked.

"Uh. Yeah... he's due to eat too so he's probably extra grumpy," Sasha told him, trying to give more reason as to not wander to the back of the house.

At this point, Armin became a bit uncomfortable with the situation. He didn't like the stress of hiding Eren and worried for his safety, but pretending he was a dog wasn't exactly ideal either. Not that he didn't like dogs, of course he did. However, acting like Eren was just a mean animal that needed to be tied up wasn't something he was too fond of, even if he was just lying about it for Eren's own safety. He wanted the two to go away, so he wouldn't have to lie about his friend. He could show them Eren, but was still set on Mikasa meeting him first, and he was still afraid of how they would react.

"I guess we'll head out then," Jean said. He got up from the sofa and left the plate on the side. "Thanks for the food Sasha, same time the week after next?" He asked her.

Nodding, she said, "Sure thing! I'll see you guys then!" She opened the door, letting Jean and then Connie out. "Bye now!"

Still confused by her odd behavior, Connie lingered at the entryway. "Alright... I guess..." Jean yelled at him to hurry up and Sasha gave him a push out the door. That got another annoyed sound from him as he said goodbye once more and followed Jean to go home.

With a sigh, Sasha shut the door, turning to Armin. The latter had already stood up, aiming to get back to his large friend who was still hiding in the trees.

"Armin, listen..." She began. He looked at her, waiting for her to finish. "I'm sorry about that, about forgetting-"

"It's ok. We're safe, that's what's important-"

"No, listen Armin," she said again. Her voice was uncharacteristically serious; it caused him to feel a little uncomfortable. She sighed again, trying to find the words. "We have to tell someone." She looked back at him, waiting for his inevitable protest.

That never came though; instead he was silent for a few seconds, looking at the ground. "I- I know," he finally said. "And I know it's hard to keep a secret as... _big_ as Eren..." He met her gaze finally, gathering the confidence he needed to. "But I swear it won't be forever! Maybe even by your next meetup with your friends!"

"I know you plan on introducing him to people... but- it's taking a long time, longer than I would like." She tried to get Armin to see her side, but knew it probably was useless. Another sigh escaped her. "I just don't want something to happen- to either of you." Her voice softened, slowly returning to its usual tone. "If something like that happens again, without being able to hide Eren, who knows what could happen. I just want you to show him soon, so more people are on our side."

He understood what she was saying, really. There was a lot of things- bad things- that could happen, and the sooner more people saw Eren was safe and good, the better. "Ok..." he began. "I'll... I'll see if I can bring Mikasa over soon... maybe this weekend." It was hard, finally deciding on a time to actually show him to someone was like a deadline for a project, only 200% more anxiety-inducing. "You're sure they won't try and come back- your friends I mean?"

"Connie and Jean? Nah we're good. Jean's got a friend that keeps him from sneaking off or trespassing- even trespassing a friend's scrapyard- and Connie's too much of a wuss to go anywhere without someone tagging along." She laughed, and slowly the serious tone that was in the air drifted away.

Armin smiled, and thanked her. "I appreciate all you're doing, Sasha," he told her with complete honesty. "Um... I'm going to see Eren now... if that's ok." He added that last part only for politeness sake. He was set on seeing him no matter what.

She snorted. "So much for a genuine thanks," she joked, she obviously took what he said close. Her way of showing endearment was by joking, as he learned on his own and watching her talk to her friends. "Get out of here, before I chase you out with a crowbar." Armin smiled again, nodding before rushing outside to meet Eren. Sasha watched him dash out the door and rolled her eyes, a smile on her face.

Eren had decided he'd sleep in the trees he'd hidden in for the night. He was too tired to get back up, as evident by the grunt he responded with when Armin told him he could move now. Armin was sitting on one of Eren's folded arms, resisting the urge to run a hand through the large bunch of messy black hair. He told Eren everything that had happened, and that he was worried about the both of them.

"Sasha wants us to introduce you to people soon..." He told him, he looked down at his hands, which were balled into fists on top his lap. Eren made an obvious noise of concern. "I know- I'm worried too..." He looked up at Eren, frowning. "But what if someone finds you before we show anyone you're good- what if that officer comes back or the whole military police-" He started rambling, anxiety starting to peak. "What if no one even gives you a chance! What if they get scared for no reason and go exclaiming to the whole town and then-"

A loud grunt interrupted him. He looked at Eren, whose brow was furrowed in concern. Eren moved closer to him, so that he gently nudged Armin with his nose. Armin let out a soft gasp from the sudden gesture. Despite the gentle movement, Eren's massive size still cause Armin to grab either side of his nose to keep from falling. Steam escaped his mouth, enveloping Armin in warmth. His breathing slowly calmed as his arms were still holding onto Eren.

"Ok." Eren simply stated.

Armin let out an exhausted sigh, and laid his forehead against Eren's nose. After a few moments, he spoke. "Right..." He let one of his thumbs rub gently against the warmth of Eren. "It's... hard. But I'll try not to worry too much," he said softly. Slowly, he lifted his head up to look at one of Eren's big eyes. "After all, you're great... it shouldn't be too hard to show them you're good." He offered a small smile to Eren, who hummed in response, eyes half-lidded in contentment (and probably a tiny bit of exhaustion too).

He patted Eren gently, and stepped off to the ground. "I'll see you tomorrow ok?" Eren responded with a soft hum, letting his head lay on its side against his arms. With another sigh and a small smile, Armin turned to get to his bike and head home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i didn't realize just how long my dumb story was but HEY look. there's some flustered bois in this chapter
> 
> next chapter is short but just pure fluff


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter was brought to u by me watching my neighbor totoro

It looked like rain was on its way, the sky was a sheet of grey with no sign of the sun. Sasha groaned, not wanting to deal with more rain. Last time it led to a certain someone and their friend kicking it at her place. Also, she'd have to clean the area. Most of the scrapyard was covered in dirt, which meant mud everywhere when it rained. With the titan in mind, she headed to the back of the house, where he was still sleeping in the trees he'd smashed down.

She threw an old tin can at his face, which received a confused groan as big eyes shot open. "Rise n' shine!" She told him. She knew the both of them slept in well past the morning hours, but ignored that fact.

Eren grunted, turning his head away from her in an attempt to sleep again. 

"Aw come on, Eren," she whined, amusement evident in her voice. "Don't you want to help me clean the place up? I have to prepare it for the rain."

Eren only responded with another grunt, not moving from his spot. She rolled her eyes, picking up another tin can (there were a lot at the scrapyard, naturally) and chucked it at his head. He groaned again, sounding annoyed as he turned back to her. The weird sunken in eyes always gave the look of exhaustion to Sasha, but he looked even more tired than what she usually thought he looked like. He glared at her, annoyed, but got up to help her.

Most of the work was just making sure things were in the right place and making sure they were stable. It was nice to not have to bring the big crane out, having Eren instead helped cut the time in half, probably even less than that. It was close to 4 after they worked around the scrapyard, but still, time went by quick. She appreciated the titan for that at least. Plus, she was a bit of a softy; even if he was a terrifying 50-foot titan with massive rows of visible teeth, she couldn't let him get hurt if he was actually innocent and not something that would chomp her to bits.

Of course, Armin helped with that too. He was a good kid, and smart too. He really believed in Eren and believed he was something special. She could tell he was determined to prove Eren was just that, and he was able to convince her, so she'd help in whatever way she could.

She looked at Eren, who was waiting for her next instructions. "That's good for now; you're free to go. Just don't mess around too much with the scrap, we just organized it!"

Eren grunted, grabbing one of the metal scraps from the floor to mess around with. She watched for a few moments, lost in thought. If anything happened to Eren, Armin would be devastated. She imagined it was the same for Eren too, but he was the big scary giant, not Armin.

"He's very fond of you, Eren," she told him suddenly. Eren looked at her from his seat on the ground. He blinked, but did nothing else.

"Armin. You know he cares an awful lot about you," she explained. Eren's expression was hard to read, but it seemed to soften, and a very faint rumble was heard. "Just- make sure you're careful alright? The both of you." With that she turned, walking to her motorcycle to drive to town, probably to the diner or to run errands.

Eren didn't know exactly what she meant by that. Of course they'd need to be careful, he understood that. She seemed to really emphasize Armin's care towards him though. He couldn't make it out, the mist in his head was too much for that. "Lucky," he mumbled to himself.

Armin was a little disappointed about coming so late; it was already 5 when he got there. The shorter days of fall and winter already made it so it was dark, but with the grey clouds covering the whole sky, it seemed like it was even later than it was. Fortunately, the same reason he was late was the same reason he'd be able to stay later, Mikasa had a late shift today at work. He hoped he'd be able to read to Eren today, or tonight rather, since they hadn't been reading a whole lot lately. He was supposed to read Eren more educational books, but gave in to his want and decided that their story was what needed to be read.

"Hi!" He called to Eren as he walked around a junk pile. 

Eren's ears perked up, and he immediately leaned down onto his arms to greet his friend. The ground rumbled, causing Armin to stagger a bit. 

"Woah! I'm excited to see you too Eren!" He laughed. He sat down on the ground, taking out their long fantasy novel. "I've made the decision to just read this today; we're getting to some really good stuff." 

Eren made an excited chirping sound, ears perking up even higher. He got as close as he could, laying down like he usually would with arms folded in front.

Armin didn't get too far into reading, however. His words were stopped by a droplet of water splashing onto his page. "Oh no..." He looked up at the dark grey sky, and felt another raindrop fall against his face.

Eren also looked up, trying to find what Armin was looking at. He folded the page they were at, and quickly shut it. "The rain's gonna ruin the book," he explained as he put the novel into his bag. He looked at Eren, who looked back at him with a tilted head. "I usually love the rain but... we can't read now."

Eren blinked at Armin, not really knowing what to say. A droplet hit the tip of his nose, which led him to cross his eyes to look. He let out a confused groan. Armin laughed, and then said, "It's rain, Eren! Remember? It was raining when you came here." He smiled at his friend, who looked up at the sky. He made a curious sounding whine as droplets hit his face. Armin looked at his bag, which was slowly getting more drops of water on it.

He looked at the cover of trees from Eren's hiding spot, and got an idea. "Eren!" He called to him, grabbing his attention from the sky's rainfall. "Let's go to your hiding spot; we can watch the rain... do you want to?"

Eren nodded eagerly, glancing back up at the clouded sky before getting up to the shield of trees.

Eren was able to fit himself in the cover of trees without knocking any down this time. Armin sat on Eren's forearm, next to his face, and they watched the rain come down.

The raindrops slowly picked up frequency, covering the area with water. Water pattered against the metal surfaces of hundreds of thousands of metal objects, though it wasn't an annoying sound nor did it feel too loud. The ground all around was becoming muddied by the mixing of water and dirt. The two of them could hear the drops of water hit against the treetops. Only barely were they able to keep dry from under their (relatively small) archway of trees.

It was soothing, for the both of them. Even Eren had felt worried about the future, and even now worried about hurting people, _hurting Armin._ The rain was like a careful rhythm that washed away the worries, muting them if only for a moment. He could understand now why Armin said he loved the rain; it was a wonderful thing. In the comfortable silence between them, he wondered if they could see the rain somewhere else. He couldn't put his thoughts together this way, but he wanted to go see things with Armin. The rain, the rivers, the lakes. All the water, and more than that too. The trees and mountains and deserts and just so many things in this world. _The world..._

Slowly, the anxiety was replaced by the sounds of raindrops and the comfortable weight that was on his arm. He glanced at his small friend. He thought Armin was wonderful too. It was scary, the thought of losing Armin. He cared about him so, so much. Despite his always clouded mind when thoughts got too complicated, he understood that.

Armin was comforted as well, the sounds all around him and the warmth of Eren were doing him good. He was so happy to have such a good friend. He didn't think he'd ever meet anyone like Eren ever in his life. Not just because he was a literal titan, but his whole self. His personality, his kindness, just... everything. If people saw what he saw, he was sure there'd be nothing to be afraid of.

Both Armin and Eren were drawn out of their own thoughts from the drops that hit them both. The smaller looked up, and saw that the leaves were finally gathering too much water to hold, so bunches of drops were falling down every few moments. They pattered against Eren's hair and skin. This caused the titan to widen his eyes, curious from the feeling and the sound. His pointed ears twitched at the contact of drops hitting them as well, causing Armin to laugh softly. "I guess we should find better cover." He wiped a drop of water that fell on his face.

Eren looked up at the trees and felt more drops against his face. He let out a happy sounding grunt mixed with a chirp. He glanced at the tree closest to him and thought for a moment. In a few more seconds, he nudged the tree with his shoulder. He quickly looked back up in time to feel even more raindrops splash against him. Of course, it ended up hitting Armin too.

The smaller laughed, "Hey! What are you doing?"

Eren let out a very happy grunt, and then lifted up a fist. He raised it very high up, as far as it could stretch, and brought it crashing down with so much force it caused the ground around them to shake. Armin yelped, and held onto a tuft of Eren's hair in surprise from the quake. Even more water than before came crashing down onto the both of them, practically soaking the top of Armin (but luckily not anything lower, book bag included). Eren then _roared,_ not an angry roar, but like someone bellowing in excitement.

Armin laughed even louder then, and shook his head that currently felt like a mop of wet hair. "Look at me! You got me soaked!" He ran a hand through his own hair, the other still holding onto Eren's.

Eren only smiled that smile of his, not at all sorry for what he did. Of course, he knew Armin wasn't mad, as was evident by the smile on his face and the laughing. Armin didn't try to seem mad at him either; he just found it easy to joke around with Eren.

He let go of his hand that was still grabbing onto Eren's hair. He didn't put it back to his side though, and instead let it run along the long dark hair of Eren. He never touched his hair before, not wanting to make Eren uncomfortable. By now he figured Eren was never uncomfortable by him, and only ever hesitated touch because of his own worry of hurting the smaller. The hair was, of course, thick, but not as rough as he had imagined. It was oddly human and about as soft as his own hair.

"You like water huh?" He asked him, still running his hand along Eren's hair. Eren responded with a grunt and a small nod. He smiled, saying, "I'm so glad... I like it too." He let his fingers run through the hair then, finding it to not be that tangled at all either. Eren seemed to sigh, letting out a bunch of steam from his mouth, and... purred.

"Eren?" Armin looked at him, waiting. Eren glanced at him from the corner of his eye, not wanting to move since Armin was running his hand through his hair.

"You know you're... you're my best friend." He told him, with complete honesty and sincerity in his voice. It caused something in Eren's chest to want to leap out and run far away.

He turned, causing Armin to stop what he was doing. He nudged against him with his cheek, and moved it up and down very slowly, trying to gently nuzzle him. Armin was surprised, but didn't move away; the affection was more than welcomed. He moved the side of his own head against Eren's, up and down like nuzzling. His eyes had drifted shut, as he focused on just the enjoyment of the contact.

It was rare for Eren to allow such close contact, he was still so nervous about it. Armin felt at times he wasn't doing a good enough job to help, or that Eren didn't like him all that much. It was an irrational thought, one that belonged to some dark voice of anxiety instead of himself. It felt a little selfish to him, but he would ignore it during times like these in favor of the closeness with his friend. He had to believe he was helping him, at least a little. In times like these, it really seemed that way.

The water was still falling down onto them every few moments, but it wasn't a bother to them and went practically unnoticed. A few more seconds went by of just the two gently nuzzling against one another.

"My best friend," Eren said. Armin's eyes shot open, and he could feel himself grinning almost madly. His heart was hammering in his chest, and his face was so, so warm. He laughed out of complete joy. Then, he threw his arms against Eren, the best he could do to hug him. His face was practically smothered against Eren's cheek as he "hugged" him tightly, and his grin still very apparent against his red cheeks despite it now being a bit smooshed against Eren. The titan responded with a very soft but happy sounding groan, and the low purr in his chest continued to sound.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whoah hey. next chapter is also a short one but it's also Very Fluff


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DONT go swimming in a lake during fall. i've done that it's not a good idea it's Very Cold
> 
> unless of course u have a Warm Friend. then it's fine.

Armin had a surprise for Eren. He had spent so long at Sasha's scrapyard, and even though he never complained, Armin didn't want him to stay cooped up there too long. Armin rode up to the scrapyard on his bike, the breeze slightly blowing through his hair. Though it was the last days of fall now, the air wasn't too cold. The sky was a clear blue with only a few clouds that dotted the atmosphere, most of them gone from the long rainfall yesterday. The sun hung up high and bright in the air, signaling that it was a perfect afternoon for what Armin had planned.

He was very excited, the smile evident on his face as he cycled into the scrapyard. He got off his bike, looking for Eren. He spotted messy dark hair and pointed ears from behind a scrap heap.

"Hi Eren!" He called as he made his way to the titan. Eren looked over to him, dropping the metal he was fiddling with. He turned on his seat to fully face his small friend.

"Armin!" Was his reply, which received a wide grin from Armin. He leaned down so that his face was close for Armin to touch. Armin gladly patted Eren's nose to greet him.

"I have a surprise for you," he told the titan quietly, excitement still showing.  
Eren perked up, tilting his head. He let out a grunt mixed with a whine, questioning what he meant.

"Where's Sasha? I need to talk to her before I tell you." He continued moving his hand along Eren as he spoke.

Eren nudged his head somewhere behind Armin's left shoulder. Armin turned over, where Sasha was standing.

"Are you kissing him?" She joked, but Armin didn't find the remark particularly amusing. His face went completely red, as he turned to face her, removing the hand he had on Eren's nose like he had been burned.

"N-no! What?" He slightly yelled, flustered. He looked down to nothing in particular on the ground, brows furrowed. "I- he likes being pet." He could practically feel Sasha's amused smile on him.

"Oh! Well if I knew that, I'd have done that too!" She walked over to Eren, who still had his head at their level. He looked at her and waited for something.

"You're like big ol' dog. Or a cat. Who's a good boy?" She joked, reaching out to touch his nose. Eren let out a big burst of steam and a short hiss before she could make it.

"HOLY SHIT!" She yelled, jumping back from terror. Eren smiled in that unique way of his and looked at Armin.

Armin laughed and patted Eren's cheekbone. "Aw, don't be scared, he was only joking," he told Sasha, who was still unmoving.

She coughed, brushing herself off. "Hey, whatever. Don't think I'll give you any more chances though," she told Eren. He simply grunted in return, obviously amused with scaring her.

Armin let out another laugh. "I was going to tell you that we're heading out today." The titan's ears perked up, surprised by what Armin said. He smiled at him.

Sasha was almost as surprised as Eren was. "Heading out? Like. Out of the scrapyard? With him?" She pointed a thumb at the titan.

"Yeah! As long as he wants to." He looked back at Eren. "Do you want to Eren? I wanted to take you to the lake." Eren quickly lifted himself up, causing Armin to stumble back a little. He looked at him, now sitting up, and nodded his head.

"Great! Can you carry me?" He asked eagerly. Eren made a chirruping noise and placed his hand on the ground; palm turned up. Armin stepped on, holding onto Eren's finger as he stood up.

"Do you want to come, Sasha?" He asked down at the ground where she still stood.

"Uh... I'll meet you there later," she called up. She was obviously hesitant to be carried by the titan, but Armin didn't bother saying anything about it.

"Alright then." He looked up to Eren. "It's in that direction." He pointed down to the forest trees on the left of the road. Eren nodded and gave a happy grunt. He sounded excited about their outing, and Armin was really glad about that.

The two made their way through the trees. Armin asked Eren to be careful when walking through the trees; that they shouldn't be knocked down unless necessary. Eren agreed, and Armin was glad to see he was able to navigate quite easily without knocking down or damaging any trees.

Even though it was the afternoon, Armin didn't worry about anyone finding them. They were far into the forest, but still close to the scrapyard which itself was a good distance away from the town. Plus, it was almost winter, and no one was going to go the lake unless they wanted to suffer hypothermia.

Armin didn't worry about that either though; he could handle the cold water. He'd only been to the lake a few times before; he didn't wander that far into the woods. He figured if it was too freezing, he'd just jump right out and bundle himself up with the towels he brought in his bag.

He could tell Eren was excited to be able to wander the forest. He made happy chirps and grunts at almost everything they passed, even if most of them were just trees. He didn't blame him though, Armin could feel his own excitement over the much-needed outing. The trees really were nice too, all of them in reds and oranges (except the pines).

Eren _was_ excited. He didn't mind the scrapyard; there were lots of things to mess around with there. But when Armin offered to take him somewhere else, somewhere new, he gladly accepted. He didn't do much looking around before he encountered Armin. He was confused and disoriented before then, and never took the time to actually take in the world around him.

The titan pushed through some trees and found himself (and Armin) in front of a clearing. The lake was a good size, about 20 feet bigger than Eren himself. It was calm in the autumn air, the only sign of movement was the gentle sway of the floating leaves on top of the water's surface. Plenty of them covered the water since so many had fallen from the autumn season. Some rocks surrounded the perimeter of the lake and one group of large boulders. The rest of the clearing was covered in short grass, a few patches of clovers were dotted here and there.

Eren stared for a moment, taking it all in. He turned his head to Armin, who looked right back to him.

"Do you like it?" he asked with anticipation. Eren responded with a loud grunt, mouth wide open in what Armin knew was his way of a big smile.

"I'm so glad!" He grinned right back. He asked Eren to put him down, and the titan placed his hand on the ground where Armin stepped off. He sat close to the lake's edge, waiting for Armin to tell him what next.

Armin took the bag off from his shoulder and placed it on the ground next to the two of them. He kicked off his shoes (only to have to lean down to remove his socks anyway) and placed them by the bag. Eren watched him as he walked over to the water, where he dipped a single toe in. Armin immediately flinched from the cold water but tried to ignore it. It was fine; he could handle it. It was fine.

Eren copied what Armin did, but with his hand instead. He tilted his head at the contact of the water against his forefinger but didn't get the same reaction as Armin.

"Swim?" Eren asked. Armin was surprised by that, not really remembering teaching Eren that word.

"I wanted to. What do you think? Would you like to go swimming... or soaking I guess. I doubt that lake is deep enough for you," he told him. Eren nodded eagerly, turning back to the water where he poked it again. He looked back at Armin, obviously waiting for him.

The smaller hesitated for a moment, and blushed. He looked down at the ground. "Um. could you close your eyes or- or turn around? I have to change into proper clothes."

Truthfully, all he had to do was take off his jacket and pants, so all he'd have left was the white t-shirt and shorts he was already wearing. Still, it felt a little embarrassing.

Eren gave a confused noise, but obliged. He covered his eyes with both his hands. Armin took that time to remove his blue jacket and beige pants. He placed both items by the bag and shoes and told Eren it was ok to look. Eren removed his hands, gave Armin a small grunt, and poked at the water again.

Armin waited at the edge of the water, before shaking off the hesitation and running in the water. He jumped a little further, fully submerging himself into the lake. Sure enough, it was fucking freezing.

He was able to stand on the lake's ground, with only his head and tops of his shoulders poking out from the water. He held his arms close to his chest, realizing that maybe he wasn't able to handle the frigid water. Eren looked at him curiously, still on the dry ground.

"C-come on Eren, i-it's a little c-c-cold but-" He struggled to say, the water's cold temperature almost stung. "It's r-really r-r-refreshing!"

Eren, still sitting, slowly scooted into the water. He could tell that the titan was hesitant, not fully understanding the effect of the water. He didn't want to leave Armin alone in the water though, so he made his way into the lake. He got far enough to where Armin was, the water only deep enough there to submerge his legs (which again, were flat against the floor) and nothing else. He looked around, curious about the water all around him.

"Y-you're p-pretty lucky Eren," he struggled out. Eren blinked at him, tilting his head. "It isn't f-f-freezing f-for you. Your b-body temperature keeps you w-warm," he explained, pointing at Eren with a barely-removed-hand from against his chest. He would probably get out soon; he wouldn't mind just enjoying the lake view with Eren, which was part of what he wanted to do anyway. Swimming wasn't the whole thing. Although, he did wish he could've gone swimming with him, it was just way too cold.

Eren then did something Armin did not expect. He cupped a hand around Armin's whole back, gently holding him. Almost instantly, the icy water was replaced by the warmth of Eren's hand. Armin was able to stop shaking from the cold, the heat seeping through his clothes all the way from his back to his legs. Eren backed up a little so that he could lay down in the water. He was on his side this time and had his head lifted up as opposed to his usual way of laying down on his folded arms.

Meanwhile, Armin was trying to gather his thoughts that suddenly had scrambled at the contact. He blushed a little, though not entirely sure why. He coughed, and then spoke. "Thank you, Eren..." Eren grunted and made a quick purring noise. He placed his other hand by him in the water, making it so that the area around Armin was just a little bit warmer.

His small friend smiled and made his way a little further into the lake so he could be completely swimming. Eren followed him with the cupped hand behind him, making sure he wasn't freezing.

Armin kicked his legs gently in the water and moved his arms. Eren watched him curiously, interested in what he was doing. Armin started getting cold again, as evident by the shivering. Eren quickly remedied that by bringing the cupped hand behind Armin again, offering the warmth. Armin gladly took it, kicking his legs so that he could be up against Eren's hand. One of his arms hooked around the top finger (Eren's forefinger) that was held just above the water. Eren was very warm, and Armin was very glad to have him there.

"I guess we'll have to wait for summer... maybe just until spring. It's a bit too cold for me," he laughed softly, looking at Eren. The bigger then decided to be a little playful, and with his other hand, he splashed Armin with a small wave of water.

Armin yelled in surprise, bringing his hands up instinctively to shield himself from the water. "HEY!" He laughed. Opening one eye, he looked at Eren. If Eren was somehow able to find an expression that meant a mischievous grin or smirk, he certainly found it. Armin narrowed his own eyes, a smirk of his own starting to form.

He ducked down into the water, removing himself from Eren's hold. Eren was surprised, and made a confused whine. He looked closer into the water where his friend had disappeared. Before he began to get too worried, the water in front of him shot up. He was then met with a stream of water that Armin spat out onto his face. Eren grunted in surprise. The smaller was obviously freezing again from moving further into the water.

"W-worth it!" He laughed through his shivering. Eren roared at him playfully, sitting up as he scooped Armin up from the water. Armin yelled again, but not without laughter. The larger fell back, causing a tremendous amount of water to splash around the both of them. He held Armin close to his chest while he did so. Now he was laying with his back against the water, and Armin still being held close to his chest.

Armin's laughter was breathless as he laid there against Eren. He was no longer cold, the hand gently cupped around him and the skin against him was much too warm to feel any bit of cold. Other than the warmth, he could actually feel Eren's chest heaving in an inconsistent pattern. Still trying to steady his own laughter, he glanced up at Eren. The titan was actually _laughing._ He had laughed, kind of, before. It was quick, like a short snort or grunt. This, however, was definitely pure laughter, and Armin felt that he would need to hear it again.

Both calmed their laughter, and steadily their breathing became more even. Armin laid his head back down onto Eren's chest. _So warm,_ Armin thought. He felt something else then, something he felt he should've noticed sooner. A steady thump-thump deep within Eren's chest, strong and constant.

_His heartbeat._

_His heart._

_Eren had a heart._ Did he really not think of that until now? Of course he did, just like there was a brain in there, and nerves. He supposed he didn't dwell that much on it. He knew Eren had a heart, but never actually thought about it beyond that. Laying there though, with the warmth surrounding him, and Eren's steady breathing the only other sound he could hear; he could listen to the beating below the layers of skin and muscle and bone. He felt it too; it's gentle but strong rhythm was right there against his face, his hands, and his own chest. He wondered if Eren was able to feel his own heartbeat against his.

Something was happening, and Armin didn't understand what it was. He couldn't wrap his mind around it. It was, in all honesty, a little nerve-wracking. He wanted to lay there more, just enjoying the warmth of Eren, but felt it would only cause more confusion and tightly-strung nerves than he already had.

He breathed in and sat up on Eren's chest. He tried to shake away the tangle of thoughts that was in his mind. He looked at the large group of boulders by the lake and smiled. "Hey, Eren!"

Eren looked at him, coming out of whatever thoughts he had. "Put me on top of that big rock there!" Eren obliged, scooping Armin up from his chest, and placing him on top of the boulder. He moved to the side as Armin asked him to, and waited.

The smaller backed up a little and then ran along the boulder. With a loud yell, he jumped into the water.

Eren liked seeing Armin do brave things, he thought. It made him want to be like him, do the things that Armin liked to do. Or at least, try the things that Armin did.

Armin emerged out of the water, shaking. His attention was brought to a brunette who appeared from the small dirt road to join them.

"H-hi Sasha!" Eren turned to her as well, lifting up his hand and shaking it in his sloppy way of waving.

"Oh, so the end of fall isn't a good time to swim?" She told him with a sly voice.

"It's f-fine. Right Eren?" Eren grunted in response but was still focused on something in his mind. He stood up, backing away into the trees. Armin frowned, unsure of what happened.

Sasha laughed, "Hah! Too cold huh? He's a big baby isn't... he..." She trailed off as loud stomps were heard. Armin very quickly realized what was happening, and swam closer to the lake's edge.

Her eyes went wide as Eren copied Armin's jump into the water, and she watched with an expression that read _why me_ as a wave of water came rushing to her. Armin tumbled a bit in the waves but was caught in a giant hand before he could get too disoriented (or hurt).

Sasha, however, was swept far back down the road in a crash of waves. She was thoroughly drenched and landed face first on the ground. She wore an unamused expression as she stood up, and walked to the main road where she parked her motorcycle, not really wanting to go back to the lake after _that._

A car could be heard coming up behind her as she was about to get on her bike. She sighed, listening to it stopping by her.

"Hey!"

"Yeah?"

"You're dripping wet in your cl-"

"YEAH!?"

" _Alright._ " The man drove off, realizing it was useless to try and reason with her.

"I think that's enough fun for one day," she mumbled to herself and headed home.

Meanwhile, Armin and Eren were just finishing another laughing fit. They decided it would be best to let Sasha go on her own, and would apologize to her later. Armin was still cupped in Eren's hand as he sat in the lake (which was a quite a bit more shallow than it had been a few minutes ago).

Before he could enjoy more of the warmth, Eren quickly placed him back on the ground with a low whine. So, the titan was still nervous about being in physical contact with Armin. He willed himself not to frown, not wanting Eren to feel bad. Still, he was a little disappointed, not towards Eren, but towards the nervousness. He worried he wasn't doing enough to help, but tried not to think of that and instead focused on the happiness he just shared with Eren.

He smiled up at Eren, who immediately perked up, ears included. That got Armin to laugh softly before he walked over to the now-soaked bag and clothes. Luckily, he had only brought towels _just in case_ any big splashes were to happen.

"Look at this!" He laughed again, walking back to Eren with a pile of soaked objects. "This is going to take hours to dry!" Eren let out a snort, laughing along with Armin.

Luckily for the both of them, they had no problem spending the next few hours enjoying each other's company before heading back to the scrap yard.

 

\---

 

  
The military police have a small division dedicated to highly confidential research and confinement. Losing an asset is quite possibly one of the worst things that can happen to them. Of course, that's exactly what happened to the small division compromising of just three individuals.

The individuals in question were Reiner Braun, Annie Leonhart, and Bertolt Hoover. Currently, they were arguing amongst themselves after another false claim of "suspicious activity" came from the city Sina.

"If we don't hurry our asses and find the asset, we're all dead," Reiner said.

"We can't keep following baseless leads, it's a waste of time," The blonde woman replied in a cold and monotone voice.

"It could be anywhere by now, it's practically a ticking time-bomb," the larger responded back.

"And what do you suppose we do? Check every useless village, town, and city? That's not good time-management if you ask me," Annie said back.

"I wasn't asking, actually. What else can we do?"

"We could try Shigansina again-" Bertolt interrupted their current bickering, bringing up the town for the third time.

"For fuck's sake, Bertolt!" Reiner quickly responded. "I consider you my friend- you know that. But we can't waste time at a town with nothing but drunk idiots and a bad storm."

"We don't have any better leads!" He argued back.

"We kind of do-"

"Annie! Please, I'm trying to prove my point."

"You don't have one."

"Guys come one!" Reiner interrupted before speaking to Bertolt again. "It's not like I enjoy beating down your ideas but-"

The phone rang, causing Reiner to stop. Annie excused herself to take the call.

Reiner continued, "But this isn't how this works. You know how unstable this thing is, we can't waste time at a town that more than likely has nothing for us."

"Yeah. I know but... what if the asset _is_ there? Why take the risk?"

"Is there a risk? That thing can reveal itself any moment, shit, I'm surprised it's taking this long to locate it, considering its- characteristics, and all that that implies."

"I guess-" Before Bertolt finished, he was once again interrupted, this time by Annie. The two men turned to look at her.

"The call was forwarding a report to us," She said with the same cold voice she always had. The other two waited, not understanding the dramatic way she was presenting this. "A report from two men out in the woods. Apparently they saw something... unusual."

"Would it be our kind of unusual?" Reiner asked.

Annie nodded, glancing at Bertolt and then back to Reiner.

"The report comes from Shigansina."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if im totally honest i think anything i write with military police could be better but i just cant do it man. i'll be honest i just dont like writing the bad guys as much as the good guys!! sue me!!
> 
> so their parts are probably rushed and maybe even ooc bc i dont..................... Care about them like i care about The Boys (and of course mikasa and sasha but listen. Listen i, listen. eren/armin is real good)


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A day in the forest leads to some answers

Since yesterday was such a success, Armin thought it'd be nice if they had another outing in the woods. They wouldn't go back to the lake today, but it was a beautiful day to walk in the forest. The both of them needed it too, the day Mikasa would finally come and meet Eren was tomorrow. He didn't realize the weekend was so close and still had to tell Eren what tomorrow would bring.

Said titan walked into the woods, holding Armin in one hand. He looked peaceful, looking around at all the trees. Most of them came up to his shoulders, but there were a few that grew over his own height of 50 feet. Armin had mentioned his big size and taught him what measurements were. He smiled at the memory, recalling that after telling Eren his own height, the larger's response was the single word "small..." in a shocked whisper.

Armin had taught him what the different trees were too. Not all of them of course, that was far too many to memorize. Still, he taught Eren a good amount of things, and the titan seemed very thankful for it; even if he was just learning about pines and birches. He was interested in a lot of what the world had to offer, much like Armin was himself. The smaller would never be able to say how thankful he was to have someone like Eren to share those kinds of things with.

A flock of birds flew out from the trees, drawing Armin out of his thoughts. Eren watched with perked up ears as they flew away. He smiled at the sight, though to most it would just look like the grimace of a lipless mouth. Armin, of course, knew better.

"It's a nice day, huh?" Armin asked.

Eren nodded in response, turning his head to Armin on his palm. He offered a soft smile to Eren and glanced down at nothing in particular, smile fading as quickly as it appeared.

With a grunt, Eren tried to get Armin's attention, to ask him if he was ok. Armin was too lost in thought though, only patting Eren's palm softly in response. Eren tilted his head, brows furrowing. He grunted again, louder this time. Armin turned to look up.

"What is it?" He asked. Eren gave him a look that made him feel like he just asked something incredibly oblivious. He hugged his arms across his chest, turning away. "I'm fine, just... thinking."

Eren wasn't having any of that. He growled, bringing his hand up to his face. The sudden force caused Armin to stagger against his seat with a yelp. "Eren! What was that?"

He was met with narrow eyes and a furrowed brow. Eren grunted at him again, sounding a little upset. He _was_ upset. Armin hadn't wanted Eren to worry about anything yet, and tried to keep his anxiety to himself, but that ended up just making Eren mad. Not really at Armin himself, but at whatever voice inside Armin that told him not to bother Eren with such things. Eren was very good at sensing Armin's worries.

Armin grabbed onto the sides of his jacket, casting his glance to the side nervously. He breathed in and looked back at Eren. "I'm... sorry." This was apparently not what the titan wanted to hear. He let out a low growl, shaking his head. _Don't be sorry, Armin._

He sighed. "I- it's hard. I don't want to burden you with this. I sh-" A louder growl sounded, and Eren nudged him with his nose, keeping him upright with his fingers. The smaller staggered again, a surprised breath escaping him. After a moment, Eren brought back his hand a few inches so he could look at Armin.

The smaller sighed again, "ok..." he said. He swallowed and looked at Eren in the eyes. "Mikasa is coming tomorrow," he stated.

Eren's eyes widened, but he kept himself steady. Armin continued, "I haven't told her anything yet... but we have to do it soon and I told Sasha we'd show you to her this weekend... which is tomorrow." Eren nodded slowly, he understood, but Armin could tell he was a little nervous.

"I was gonna tell you, I promise. I just... I'm worried too..." He explained and placed a hand on Eren's nose. "I don't even understand why, not really. I have so much faith in you Eren, I really do." Eren responded with a low groan. "You're practically the definition of a gentle giant. You know that?" He laughed, trying to chase the anxiety away. "I have no doubts that you'll do great but... I can't help but worry... about you. I don't want to see you hurt." Armin rubbed up and down Eren's nose as he spoke, eyes staring deep into Eren's big yellow-green ones.

Eren responded with another low groan, and made a small purr. Armin smiled, continuing to caress his dear friend. There really shouldn't be anything to worry about, he thought. Mikasa would see, and others would too.

The two of them heard a crack of what was probably a stick and rustling of leaves somewhere far below. Both of them searched where the sound came from, and found a small creature about 15 feet away.

"Oh, Eren, it's a deer!" Armin whispered.

"Deer?" Eren repeated, attempting to mimic Armin's quiet voice.

Armin nodded, smiling. "Try and see if you can get close to it," he whispered again. He jumped onto Eren's shoulder since his hand was still close to his face. Eren looked a little hesitant to let Armin be that close, but he nodded in agreement, slowly making his way to the small animal.

The deer, a young buck, perked its head up from the grass it was grazing on to look up at the sudden presence before it. The titan slowly leaned down onto the ground, one knee flat against it. Armin held onto Eren's hair a little tighter, and was happy to see the deer didn't dash off.

It stared at Eren for a few moments, blinking and twitching its ears. Eren lifted a hand, very slowly moving it to the deer, though not close enough to touch. The deer looked at the outstretched hand in front of it, and slowly walked one hoof at a time to Eren.

Armin watched in complete awe, careful not to make a single sound. Whatever spell was around them, he didn't want to break. The grip he had on Eren's hair became even tighter, though it was unnoticed by either of them.

Eren was quiet as well, waiting with a rare patience only Armin had seen a few times before. The deer made its way to his forefinger, close to pressing its nose against it to smell. Before he made contact with the gentle animal, another crack of branches was heard somewhere. The deer's head shot up, and it trotted off somewhere.

Armin sighed, but he wasn't entirely disappointed. The fact it didn't even run off in the first place and was curious enough to come close to Eren was amazing in itself. He turned his head to his left, facing Eren. "That's ok Eren; you got to see him come close to y-"

A loud sound interrupted his sentence, startling the two of them. Armin recognized it as the sound of a gunshot, and was all too aware of what might have just happened.

Eren pushed his way through some trees, following the sound. He looked down at two men hunched over the deer, which was laying down.

The two men looked up from what they were doing, and scrambled to their feet with wide eyes of fear.

"It's the monster!" One of them yelled, and they ran off without noticing Armin and leaving some of their belongings.

"Oh no..." Armin whimpered, holding onto Eren's hair. He looked sadly at the deer that laid before them on the forest floor.

Eren was shocked and confused. He didn't completely understand what just happened. He looked at Armin with sad eyes, expression asking Armin for an answer.

He frowned, and told Eren, "It's... dead."

"Dead?" Eren didn't understand, and felt something bad and empty fester in his chest. He looked back at the unmoving deer, and sat on his knees in front of it.

"Yeah..." Armin responded sadly, this was something he didn't know how to explain. Something that he tried to avoid in general, the concept too scary and complicated to dwell on, let alone to attempt to teach Eren about. "They killed it. Hunted it with those weapons." He pointed to the shotguns on the floor; an edge was on his voice.

Something happened to Eren then. Staring at the dead deer and the weapons that killed it; thinking about everything Armin had just said. His temperature began getting hotter, and steam slowly escaped from his closed mouth. Armin did not notice, but his eyes began to turn into a solid color, lacking his expressive pupils and irises. A low rumbling growl caused Armin to call to him.

"Eren?" The titan blinked, his temperature quickly returning back to its usual warm state as his eyes went back to normal. He let out a confused grumble, as if he couldn't remember what just happened. Armin sadly looked at him, running a hand through his hair.

That evening, after talking to Sasha about tomorrow, Armin went back to find Eren. Armin found him laying on his stomach like he usually did when they read together. However, his head was put on its side as he stared down at nothing with sad, solemn eyes. Armin could tell he was lost in thought, and carefully made his way to Eren.

"Are you thinking about the deer, Eren?" He asked softly, climbing onto one of Eren's arms to sit. Eren only responded with a sad moan, not even looking at Armin.

It stung, like a knife through his own chest. Armin rubbed a gentle circle on Eren's warm skin. He was upset about the whole thing too, and wasn't sure what to say.

"It's not your fault you know," he suddenly said. He wasn't sure where it came from, but didn't take it back.

Eren looked up at him with those big sad eyes. "You shouldn't- you shouldn't blame yourself," he told him. He felt a little over-emotional, facing things he wasn't ready to face. The sad groan and glistening eyes confirmed what Armin felt. He _was_ blaming himself. God, they really were so much alike. He felt a tangle of emotions rushing through his whole body.

"Those- ugh-" He struggled to find the right words, clenching his fists against Eren. He shut his eyes tightly, trying to force the tears away that threatened to form.

"They killed for no reason. For sport. Sometimes..." He took a breath in, and exhaled. "Sometimes you need to protect yourself; sometimes you need to fight. But that..." He rubbed his thumb against Eren again, calming the both of them. "But that's killing for no reason. They're the monsters."

Eren listened to what he had to say, not moving his eyes from Armin. "I won't let anyone hurt you, Eren." Armin wanted to just fall forward and hug Eren's face like before, but continued to speak to him as he caressed his arm. "Please... please don't blame yourself Eren. I think..." Another breath, and he looked back at Eren with a soft smile. "I think that deer will remember you, the last bit of kindness before it died."

"Remember...?" Eren said, slowly.

Armin nodded. "Yeah... of course. Even though it died, the deer still has a soul."

"Soul?"

"Right. A soul... it's-" Armin stopped for a few moments, trying to find more words. It wasn't something he thought about. The afterlife, death, what makes us who we are... they were all questions that no one really had the answer to. It was scary to think about to anyone, especially for Armin. Armin didn't feel scared now though, Eren had some unexplainable ability to make Armin feel brave, even just by being there next to him.

He started again, "It's something inside all good things." He gazed down at his hands against Eren's. He looked back to Eren's eyes, "Inside of that deer, inside of me, and- and you too."

"I have... a soul?" Eren asked quietly, sounding surprised. Armin was too aware of how fast his heart was beating, and how warm his face felt.

"Of course...!" He almost yelled before catching himself. "Of course you do... Inside all good things, Eren. And you're good." Eren gave a soft moan, eyes still shining with emotion.

Armin swallowed, "And- and souls... don't die." He leaned forward finally, placing a hand on Eren's cheek. "They go on forever and ever." He placed his other hand against his own chest, his heart, before gesturing up to the sky. Eren followed his movements, looking up to the night sky. It was covered in stars.

"Souls... don't... die..." Eren repeated slowly, a small wisp of steam coming from his mouth. Armin nodded, holding back tears as he gently rubbed circles on Eren's cheek. He laid his head against Eren's cheek, and gazed up at the stars along with him.

They stayed like that for a few moments before Armin broke the silence. "The stars are wonderful aren't they?"

Eren nodded gently as they both still stared up at the twinkling lights. "There's places where they're even more visible than they are now... and I've read about a place where a ribbon of light practically dances across the night sky," he told Eren, recalling the northern lights he'd read about.

"I always wanted to see them... they're very far away though..." Armin said softly, nuzzling closer. "I've read to you about a lot of places, haven't I?" Eren nodded, and purred gently. He really did read to him a lot, and taught him a lot too. Together, they poured over books that even Armin didn't read before, learning about the world outside their small town together. Eren would always show the same excitement and wonder in his eyes that Armin had.

He smiled softly, all too aware of the wetness in his eyes. "Eren..." He softly whispered. Eren made a soft sound in response, and turned to look at Armin. Armin looked right back at him, cheeks red. "Wouldn't it be nice if we could see the outside world someday?"

Eren purred, and a low moan escaped him. They stared at each other, eyes shining.

They realized then, together, that they really did share the same dreams.

Armin saw that Eren actually had tears. They didn't fall, the heat of his skin too hot to let the small amount of liquid go far. But Armin saw that the corners of Eren's eyes were welling up with them. He was... so human. More than that, he was just so... so special.

Armin turned, bringing a fist to wipe an eye. "I-I didn't mean to start crying I-"

A warm pressure stopped him, and he was too shocked to continue. He just stared into Eren's eyes as Eren brought up a finger to very gently wipe Armin's other eye from tears.

"Ah-" was all he made out, the beating in his chest now almost overwhelming.

Eren removed his hand, folding his arm back below so he could lay on it. "Stay? Until sleep?" He asked in a whisper.

Armin took in a sharp breath, not even realizing he had stopped breathing. "I- yes. of course." Eren responded with a fond hum, letting his eyes drift shut.

Just as he said, Armin stayed there. He just... stared at Eren. His mind was in scrambles, as it had been recently when he was with his best friend. His heart felt light, too light for his chest that if it got out, it would probably run far away. The blush on his face wouldn't leave him either, and his eyes were still welled up with all sorts of emotion.

If he were honest with himself, this was not an unfamiliar feeling. He felt it before, all with Eren. He couldn't even pinpoint exactly when. The lake... watching the rain... reading together for the first time. Really any time they were together. In fact, it could have even begun when he first saw him. He was very grateful for whatever told him that night that there was nothing to be afraid of, to be brave. If not, he wouldn't have met his best friend.

He went through so many loops in his own mind, and heart, to deny (or rather, ignore) the feelings that were going on. What if this was just how you would feel with your closest friend. _Don't be stupid, Armin._

But no, something told him this was something much more than just the fondness of two close friends, best friends even. He knew that now, then again he felt that deep down, he had always known. Tonight finally confirmed it. It was finally too much to ignore, to try and reason. There was no getting around it. Not when Eren looked at him with those big, _honestly beautiful,_ yellow-green eyes that shined with the same dreams that Armin knew his own eyes shined with.

He looked at his now-sleeping companion; warm with messy hair covering his head and falling onto his face.

He took a deep breath, eyes closed, before opening back up as he whispered the truth into the night air between them.

"I'm in love with him."

Admitting it to himself was almost enough to completely get rid of the knot in his chest. Of course, he couldn't actually tell Eren, and he knew thinking too much about that would drive him to overwhelming sorrow. So he ignored that, trying to convince himself that admitting it to himself was enough, and having Eren as his best friend was already the luckiest he could ever be.

Still... he just admitted something to himself he had been ignoring for a long while. He loved Eren. He was completely, hopelessly, in love with his best friend. Also... he was a titan. Not that it took away any of Armin's feelings toward him. But he didn't think anyone would understand. Even Sasha, even _Mikasa_ , who always supported him, wouldn't get this.

It was ok, he told himself. Eren didn't feel that way about him, he was sure. He wasn't going to tell him anyway... of course he wouldn't.

 _Don't think about this too much,_ he thought to himself. So he didn't. That was what he had to do, right? He gave in and admitted his feelings, and that was that.

He smiled despite himself, looking at his dear friend.

 _Just this_ , he told himself. He leaned over, placing a gentle hand on Eren before pressing his lips ever so softly in a kiss against Eren's cheek. He lingered a little longer to stay close to Eren's face before he would try and keep the feelings in check. He wouldn't think about it after this. 

Armin wouldn't know it then, but it was not at all the end of it.

 

\---

 

Eren's mind was a mess. A big, foggy mess. He didn't know what to do about it. He couldn't figure out why it was like this anyway. It wasn't like he was thinking about the past he couldn't remember. He wasn't trying to piece together something. He was just thinking about his friend, his best friend. Armin. After he fell asleep with Armin by his side, he slipped into a calm and dreamless sleep. However, he woke up, as he often did, late in the night before the first hours of dawn approached. The sky was still in a blanket of black and dotted with stars.

He had sat up, and got lost in half-formed thoughts. Something was happening in his chest that he didn't understand. He hit it, in an attempt to get it to stop, but that didn't work. It wasn't a bad feeling, he decided, but it was something he couldn't comprehend and trying to make it out only made his frustration get worse.

Again, it wasn't even his lost memories that were triggering it. He was just thinking about Armin... about the time they spent together and- and the things he had talked about.

Eren didn't see himself as good, maybe something tolerable at best. Something bad was triggered when the deer was killed, and he didn't like it. He didn't like it when those bad men called him a monster, and didn't like how... misty... his mind got when he saw the dead animal. Something... bad. There was something terrible, something related to his lost memories... and he hated it. He was scared of it.

But then there was Armin, his small friend. His best friend! He told him so many wonderful things... and he was able to feel good around him. He even told him he had a soul, like all good things. _Like Armin_. He told him he was good... and that made his chest feel very funny. Was funny the right word? He didn't think so.

Then he looked at him with shining blue eyes, filled with the same dreams he had. They shared something so special, and Eren was beyond thankful for it. Thinking about it made his chest feel even weirder, he grabbed at it with his hand and whined.

It was too much, too much that he didn't understand. All he knew was that Armin was his dearest, closest, best friend. He knew he wanted to be with him always. He was scared though. Scared of hurting him. He was so small... and Eren was so big. He was set on protecting Armin, determined not to let anything harm him. Could he guarantee that he himself wouldn't hurt him though? He couldn't be sure... and it terrified him.

He wished he was more like Armin. He wished he was human like Armin. That way, he wouldn't have to worry about hurting him, and he wouldn't be scary to people anymore. He could hold Armin close, and feel Armin hold him right back; feeling his arms wrap around him.

That thought made him feel too warm, but it was comforting. It left an aching feeling of longing in his chest.

There was something also in his head, the wish of being a human triggered it. Like something trying to poke its way through the mist of lost memories and half-thoughts, but it didn't make it through. It only made him frustrated again.

With a groan, he fell back down and laid on his side. Instead, he focused on shining, beautiful blue eyes that sparkled with fondness, kindness, and dreams of the world beyond them. With that, he fell back asleep. He dreamt of small hands on his face and sparkling stars behind a ribbon of lights.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> man i've been uploading these slower. my bad. i spend a lot of my time drawing and all that stuff so i have to dedicate specific time to this tbh

"I- um- wanted to show you something?" Armin asked awkwardly. Mikasa was sitting on the chair by the dining room table, drinking a cup of tea. She had only gotten up 30 minutes ago, and this was her rare day off.

Surprised by the sudden statement, she looked up from her tea. "Yes?"

"Um. Well. It's more like... _someone._ " He was nervous, and it showed.

Mikasa set down her mug, giving Armin her full attention. "What do you mean?" Her voice was completely monotone, and it was fucking nerve-wracking.

"Well... I made a friend. I'd... like you to meet him." He fiddled with the end of his jacket.

"That's... good, right?" Mikasa lost the monotone voice for a second, something gentle replacing it. She smiled. "That's wonderful. I'd love to meet him, where is he? What's his name?"

"Yeah!- I mean yeah, it is..." He coughed. "He uh, he lives at the scrapyard. His name is Eren."

"Eren?" She repeated. She nodded, more to herself. "Well, I don't need to be anywhere. Do you want to go now?"

"Sounds good."

 

\---

 

"Today's the day!" Sasha yelled out, throwing her door open. Eren was by the house, sitting down behind a pile of scrap so that someone entering the scrapyard would still have to get close enough to see him.

"Are you excited? I'm fucking terrified!" She said joyously. She had a cooked potato in her hand and munched on the last of it. One could tell that all her insides were screaming internally.

Eren was, to put it simply, also completely fucking terrified. He sat there, twiddling giant thumbs and trying to keep his breathing steady.

"What's up with you!? You're not supposed to be nervous!" She yelled at him. "You need to be on your best behavior for Mikasa!" Eren groaned, still twiddling his thumbs and looking down at the ground with furrowed eyes.

Sasha put her fists on her hip, clicking her tongue. Before she could say anything else, she heard a car on its way to the scrapyard. She smiled with what looked like hysteria. "Oh good! They're here." With that, she left a very nervous titan as she made her way to the entryway of the scrapyard.

The car pulled up just past the entryway and parked. Sasha walked up to it as Armin and Mikasa walked out. Armin looked a little nervous, but he had the excuse of just being worried about having Mikasa meet his new friend. At least, until she saw said friend.

"Oh! Hey there! What's going on?" Sasha said with a wide grin. Armin resisted the urge to throw a palm against his face.

"Hi Sasha, I wanted to uh- have Mikasa meet Eren?"

"OH! Yeah of course! He's over here!" She said, much too loudly. Armin held back a sigh and followed Sasha.

Mikasa walked on the other side of Sasha, "I haven't heard you mention him before. Is he related to you?"

"Me? Oh no no, he's just a friend who's living here for a while, trust me, we look _nothing_ alike," she laughed nervously. Armin was close to tearing his hair out.

"So! You know Sasha well, Mikasa?" He asked her. He did not miss the faint blush on her face but didn't comment on it.

"She comes to the diner a lot, I enjoy her company, even if she's a little eccentric." Sasha's blush was much more obvious, almost causing Armin to laugh.

"I enjoy yours too! I mean- what?" She said awkwardly.

Armin saw that they were close to the house, the pile of junk in front of it being the only thing in front of Eren to hide him. He rushed forward, turning around the corner to disappear behind the pile where Eren would be, leaving the two behind.

Eren was sitting down, hunched over a bit with his arms crossed over his chest. He looked at Armin, ears perking up, but didn't move from his position. He made a small whine.

"She's right around the corner. You can do this Eren." He walked up to Eren, placing a hand on his knee. "We can do this," he said, looking right into Eren's eyes.

Eren, despite his worry, nodded. Armin nodded back to him and turned to walk back around the pile.

He was then in front of the two women. Armin looked at Sasha, who must have understood how important this was. She respectively stepped back, causing Mikasa to look back at Armin with a raised eyebrow.

"What's... going on?" She asked him.

He took in a deep breath. "You have to promise you won't freak out. Or tell anyone about him." She was obviously confused but said nothing. "Just- you'll see." With that, he walked around the corner, visible to Eren again.

"Mikasa... this is Eren," he said as she walked to him, becoming visible to the titan as well. She looked at what Armin was turned to and gasped.

"What-" She started. Eren nervously looked at everywhere except her.

"That's- that's Eren!" He tried to explain. Mikasa was still confused; her breath was uncharacteristically uneven.

_"That's your friend?"_ She said. She was attempting to calm her breath, but her eyes were still wide.

"Y-yes," he tried to say calmly. He walked up to Eren, causing Mikasa to instinctively jerk forward to grab him. "It's ok!" He told her. She stayed where she was, albeit hesitantly.

He walked towards him, "He's very friendly." He touched Eren's knee again, turning to Mikasa.

She stared at him, saying nothing for a few moments before finally speaking. "He's... gigantic."

"Well, yes. He's uh-" He looked at Eren, who looked right back at him, still nervous. "He's a titan. He came here the night Hannes had crashed his car." He looked back at Mikasa as he spoke.

"Are you serious?" She walked up, so she was now next to Armin. "It wasn't just annoying drunk ravings again." She gazed up at the titan. He titled his head at her.

"No. He's real," he said, smiling up at Eren.

"How... how did you find him?" She paused, before continuing. "And how exactly did you befriend him?"

Armin told her everything that had happened, from the night he met Eren up until today. He explained what happened to the antenna, and admitted to sneaking out here the past few weeks. Of course, he left a few things out. Specifically, the times they spent together that made Armin's head spin and heart race with absurd feelings. He also left said absurd feelings out of the conversation, but still made sure that she understood Eren was his friend.

Sasha had appeared behind them, offering some burgers for them to eat. Both gladly accepted. Armin had made his way onto Eren's crossed leg to sit on, both out of comfort and to prove to Mikasa further that he was safe. In all honesty though, she didn't seem to need much more convincing.

"You're handling this better then Sasha did," he laughed. The anxiety from before was gone by this point, and he was glad for that.

"Is that so?" She asked from her folded out chair Sasha brought her. The brunette blushed from her seat on her own chair, taking a bite out of her food.

Armin laughed again and heard Eren let out a short burst of steam that meant the same. "She tried to grab me and run away from Eren, but he thought she was hostile." He patted Eren's leg, practically second-nature now. "He plucked her up from the ground and basically yelled at her, trying to keep me safe."

Mikasa let out a rare laugh. "I think I like you, Eren."

Eren grunted happily, his own anxiety also being left behind. Both of them got along pretty great, and Armin was beyond relieved and happy about it.

"Hey, you can hardly blame me!" Sasha retorted, though a smile was evident on her face. "He's hardly charming."

Armin managed to avoid arguing that he found him very charming and, _yeah, a little handsome too, thank you very much._ He had to force himself to not think about how nice Eren was, how his face was cute in a way and his eyes were pretty and _what the fuck Armin don't think about it._

"Well I wasn't scared of him, and I was right not to be. Look at him!" He looked back to Eren, waving at him. Eren shook his hand in the sloppy wave of his, raising his cheekbones to smile.

The two girls looked at each other, Sasha shrugged with a smile. Mikasa laughed again and smiled up at Eren. "I believe you. I'm glad you made a friend like him." Eren grunted happily again. She understood more than even Sasha did, and both Armin and Eren were thankful.

They talked a little more then, Sasha excusing herself to go clean up the grill. Armin had told Eren all about living with Mikasa. Eren had quickly decided he liked her, even without having met her. He was thankful for her taking care of Armin all these years, being the only family he had for a long time. Mikasa, however, had not learned anything about Eren until now.

Armin explained the lessons and plans he had. He talked about how Eren was eager to learn, and even though he got frustrated sometimes, he had learned a lot. He told her that he was teaching him to read, and teaching him things like science and history (at least what humanity had of it). It was mostly basic of course, but she still seemed impressed that Eren was able to gather all that information.

"And you want him to meet more people?" She asked.

"Yeah, I mean, I don't want him stuck here forever." He replied, looking up at his dear friend.

"I agree with that." She looked like she was thinking about something, taking a moment before speaking again. "You said you have a log of every day and things you learn?"

"Yeah, I have it in my bag. It also has a list of lessons for Eren and things I still have questions about. There's also pages dedicated just to how Eren works-"

Mikasa laughed softly again, "I was more curious about the camera, it's been missing for a while now."

"Oh!" Armin said. He kept the camera in his bag, only removing it for the trip to the lake so it wouldn't get wet. "Yeah, it's here." He pointed at the bag on the floor by Eren's leg. "I actually haven't used it yet... did you need it? I'll just need it back after; I still want to take pictures of Eren."

"Why don't you just do it now?" She asked simply.

Armin blinked. He didn't really have an answer; he was always too focused on other things to bother with the camera, as much as he wanted to keep photos of Eren. Since Mikasa was familiar with him now, he supposed he didn't have to worry about taking pictures anymore. "I guess I could..."

Mikasa smiled, stepping up to reach into the book bag for the camera. She thankfully didn't comment on the large novel, probably just assuming it was Armin's own book to read alone.

"Thanks," he said as she handed him the camera.

Eren tilted his head, making a curious grunt about the item. Armin smiled, turning his head to look at him. "One second." He rubbed the lens with his blue jacket sleeve. Once he figured it was clean enough, he turned around to fully face Eren, still standing on the titan's crossed leg.

Closing one eye as he held the camera to his face, he said, "Ok Eren, stay still!" Eren's ears perked up higher, tilting his head even more than before. With flash (small in comparison to Eren's size and distance from it) the camera took a picture. Eren made another curious sounding grunt.

Armin lowered the device, smiling up at Eren. "The picture has to develop, but now we have a photo of you!" He explained. "It's important to keep this kind of information. It's like a memory." He blushed. _And now I have something of you for home._

Eren chirped, nodding in understanding. Armin laughed. "Can I take another?" Eren nodded again, this time lifting his head up proudly as he grinned. Armin let out a loud laugh, Eren was actually posing. "Very noble, Eren. But could I get closer to your face?"

He tilted his head but nodded again. He offered his hand to Armin, and after the smaller steadied himself on it, he raised the palm a couple of feet from his face.

Mikasa watched with a good amount of shock, even knowing that Eren was a friend, she couldn't believe how confident Armin was to let Eren hold him like that. Still, she didn't interrupt, she had enough faith in Armin (and Eren now too) that it was safe.

Armin snapped another photo, this time of just Eren's face. Steam left his mouth as he grunted, which fogged up the lens. Armin laughed, rubbing the glass clean again.

"Armin too?" Eren asked.

"Oh- I mean.. you really want me too?" He assumed Eren was asking for Armin to take a picture of himself and him together.

Eren gave a short nod, and Armin grinned. "Ok!" He turned around, back facing Eren. He lifted the camera and held it as far away from him as he could.

Armin smiled at the camera, which was something he admittedly was not used to doing. Eren also grinned behind him, and Armin snapped the photo. His wide smile disappeared immediately after the light of the camera flashed. He grimaced as he held a hand to his face, covering his tightly shut eyes from behind it.

He could hear Eren whine behind him, asking what was wrong. He turned back around, slowly blinking away the stars that blurred his vision. "I uh... forgot about the flash," he told Eren sheepishly. He smiled at Eren, "I'm ok though, I'm sure it came out good!" He was responded to by a happy grunt.

Mikasa had been smiling at the two, realizing then that Armin had found a best friend. Leave it to Armin to discover a hulking beast and make friends with it. Of course he would. She didn't always understand him, probably never would, but she cared for him and supported him and was lucky to have him in her life. She was happy to see him so happy, that's all that mattered to her.

Sasha came rushing back, breathing hard. It caused the three of them to look at her at once. "I'm so sorry" was all she could say before other running steps were heard.

Before any of them had full time to react, there was a voice. "WHERE'S YOUR DOG!?" A teen came rushing to Sasha's side less than a second after. He looked up at the creature before him and screamed.

"WHAT THE FUCK!?" Sasha shut her ears with both hands, grimacing. Mikasa stood between him and the two behind her. Eren and Armin both were too shocked to do anything but stare with wide eyes.

To make matters even worse, Connie wasn't alone. He was followed by Jean, who proceeded to copy precisely what Connie had done.

"IT'S FINE!" Sasha tried to yell at the two, before promptly being ignored.

"What the fuck is that thing!?" Jean yelled, pointing a finger at Eren. Mikasa stepped in front him, eyes narrow and cold. A warning to back off.

He got red in the face and backed away. "What the fuck is going on Sasha?" He asked, not taking his eyes off the creature.

" _What the fuck._ " Was all Connie had to offer. He was hiding behind Sasha's back.

" _Listen,_ " She stressed, and turned to face the both of them. "Uh. So I don't actually have a dog."

"No shit!" Connie retorted.

"Shut up! His name is Eren; he's a friend," she explained. Both Connie and Jean looked at each other, then back to Sasha like she was completely insane.

"It has Armin!" Connie yelled pointing to the blond in Eren's hand. It was enough to shake Armin out of his state of staring at the scene below.

"I'm fine! Really!" He yelled down, patting one of Eren's fingers to demonstrate further. This wasn't exactly how he wanted this day to go.

Connie's eyebrow twitched, but couldn't find any words. Jean, however, had a thing or two to say.

"He's saying it's fine!? And you believe him!?" He yelled at Sasha. "Look at that thing! Do you even know what it is?"

"He's a titan! And he's a _friend._ Don't be such a fucking wimp." She glared at him.

He snorted. "That's not what a friend looks like." He grimaced, looking back at the titan that now narrowed its eyes at him. He gulped. "You're saying it's friendly?"

"I have been about 20 times, yeah."

He didn't say anymore and definitely didn't feel like it was wise to stress about how horrifying the thing was. Especially with the other girl staring daggers at him, which was probably more scary than the titan itself.

"Y-you said his name was Eren?" Connie asked suddenly, still clearly nervous but tried to play it cool. Jean almost socked him in the arm for asking that, but the girl in front of them kept him from doing so.

"Yes, Armin met him first, and then brought him here to keep him safe. That's why I lied before; you guys weren't supposed to see him yet."

"Can't imagine why," Jean mumbled. He received a shove in the shoulder from Connie.

Armin asked Eren to let him down. With some reluctance, Eren gently placed his hand on the ground. The other two males jumped back, staring as Armin stepped off. He rubbed Eren's hand and thanked him. Turning back to the group, he tried to aid Sasha in explaining.

"He's not dangerous." He simply said. He turned to Jean, furrowing his brow, "And stop calling him things like 'it'- And don't make fun of him." His voice was stern, not at all happy with the reactions Eren was getting.

Jean lifted an eyebrow and looked like he was going to laugh, but decided not to. He obviously thought it was ridiculous, but Armin didn't want to cause too much drama, so he didn't say any more than that.

Sasha coughed, taking the lead in the explanation. For the second time that day, Eren's story was being told. This time Sasha did most of the talking. It didn't take as long as before when talking to Mikasa about everything (almost everything) did. She just covered the basics. She explained Armin was teaching him things and gathering what he could learn about him, and that they wanted to introduce him to the rest of the town eventually.

"He doesn't eat? Like at all?" Connie asked. All of them were sitting on the ground, Armin leaning against Eren's crossed leg.

"Nah, unless you're annoying." She laughed as Connie gulped, looking at Eren.

"She's joking! He doesn't eat at all, doesn't need to," Armin quickly stated. "There's really nothing to be scared of Connie."

Connie swallowed, nodding his head, "Right. Yeah. I get that it's just... he's fucking massive dude."

"And the teeth ain't pretty either," Jean offered. Connie nodded in agreement.

"Yeah. He could probably rip anyone to shreds in seconds."

"Shut up Connie. I don't wanna think about getting chomped up by a giant," Jean shuddered.

Armin was, in all honesty, tired of this. Eren didn't seem to mind, or maybe he just didn't understand. Still, he didn't take kindly to the two talking about his friend like that. He'd call Eren down and kiss him on that lipless mouth of his just to show them how good he was if it wasn't for the fact that it would also be a rather romantic gesture, which was not something he wanted to dwell on right now.

Mikasa, all too familiar with Armin and his expressions, must have caught on. "He's not that bad at all," she said with a stern voice to both Jean and Connie. The two nervously looked down at the ground. Sasha held in a laugh.

"He's my best friend," Armin said. Connie made a curious hum but nodded in understanding. Connie seemed to be a little more accepting than Jean was, so he was thankful for that at least. Luckily the latter didn't seem upset, just confused, and it didn't look like he'd do anything that would actually put Eren in harm's way.

"You two have to promise not to tell anyone. Who knows what would happen," Sasha told them. Both of them looked at each other in minor hesitance but nodded in agreement.

"Alright, we swear," Connie said, holding a hand against his chest and holding one above his head. Jean rolled his eyes but did the same.

"Thank you," Armin said. "It's important he's kept secret; kept safe."

Eren grunted and leaned down to nudge Armin with his nose. Armin was luckily able to keep down the blush that threatened to appear from the sudden show of affection. "Hey! What are you doing?" he laughed.

Mikasa smiled, happy to see the two like that. Sasha laughed at Connie and Jean. They both had flinched at the sudden movement and just stared.

Armin and Eren looked at each other for a moment. Armin could tell what Eren was thinking, and smirked. He nodded and watched as Eren looked over to the group, the two teens in particular. He let out a loud hiss and a cloud of steam.

They both shrieked, and Connie climbed up onto Jean like a small child would. Jean yelled at him, throwing him off with a thud onto the ground. The rest of them laughed, including Eren, and even Mikasa covered her mouth from the laughter.

Armin couldn't be more relieved. Despite the bits of bitterness he had in defense of Eren, he was glad they successfully proved to three people that day that Eren exists, and that he was a friendly giant. Plus, he now had a group of people he could consider friends, if he wanted to. At least Sasha and Mikasa were for sure. He was thankful for it, all of it.

It felt so sudden. Just yesterday Eren was hidden away, and now he was in front of a group of new people to meet and befriend. It had been a while now, both he and Eren seemed like longtime friends from the way they interacted with each other. It was weird, for sure. From the time he met Eren to now felt like a long span of time but also felt like it passed so quickly at the same time. That didn't bother him though. He got his own adventure, and he was beyond thankful. That adventure turned into him making a best friend, and he hoped they could always be together, he was certain they would. Maybe even get out of this town someday, and see the world...

After a while of talking, Connie and Jean decided to go to their homes. Sasha seemed tired too, so she waved them goodbye and headed inside, leaving just Eren, Armin, and Mikasa in the scrapyard.

"You could have told me sooner you know," Mikasa said after a moment.

Caught a little off guard, Armin took a second to respond. "I know... I just-" He looked at Eren, who was now laying down once again, dozing off. "I didn't want to risk anything."

"I wouldn't have done anything," she said plainly. Obviously, she was right, her meeting with Eren went fantastically well. Both she and the titan had a mutual respect for one another at the start, both caring about Armin.

"Well... what if you were scared? Even Sasha tried to run away with me because she thought he would hurt me... and I know you worry about my safety."

"I don't believe he'd hurt anyone." Her response was quick, which surprised Armin. He took too long to respond, so she continued. "I don't know... it's hard to explain, but I don't think I could ever be scared of him."

"...really?" He was taken aback by this honesty, not that Mikasa was ever a liar. She usually spoke her mind, for better or for worst. What surprised him about it was the fact that she really did feel this way about the titan.

"Yeah... " She smiled, looking at Armin as he gazed at the tired giant. "I'll do everything I can to help the both of you."

Armin looked back at Mikasa then, and gave her a hug. "Thank you..." She hugged him back, smile still on her face. "Really... thank you, Mikasa. He's so special. He's family... like you are."

In a rare moment, Mikasa had trouble fighting back tears. She hugged Armin tighter, and stayed like that a few moments before pulling back.

 

\---

 

Eren had a bad dream that night. There was rain and darkness. It was heavy against him and _cold._ He didn't remember being cold before, why was he cold? He was alone and scared and tired. He wanted to collapse and fall into a deep sleep. His feet hurt from running, why was he running?

The dream was too foggy, too distant, and too painful to gather more. There was a sharp pain and he recalled the color of red and a taste like iron. There was a crack of lightning and a quick vision of bright green before red. So much red; it was all around him for a moment before darkness. Suffocating darkness that burned him like fire, pinching every inch of his body with the heat.

His nightmare shifted, forming into a new image of terror. He saw himself, a grimacing creature towering over trees with steam escaping its maw and eyes a solid, glowing bright green. It roared, and suddenly it was in front of a town, rubble beneath its feet. There was so much smoke and fire and buildings were destroyed. The town was in complete ruin. There were distant screams of people below, but nothing could be seen between the thick blanket of smoke that surrounded the monster. Then there was a small shape before him, standing on the ground of the ruined street gazing up at him.

The creature growled with a horrid fierceness. The image focused on the small figure, whose big blue eyes were shot red with crying. The tears streaked down his dirty face as he looked with wide, scared eyes at the source of the shadow that loomed over him. Blond hair was disheveled and messy, and his jacket was ripped and muddied. He was so scared.

The monster lifted one giant hand as the boy was paralyzed with fear. It roared once more before everything came crashing down and Eren jolted awake with a loud, scared groan.

He tried to breathe steadily, and blinked away the last images of his night terror. He gathered his surroundings, metal pieces all around. He was in the scrapyard. Sasha's scrapyard. The day was spent meeting new people and it was ok. It went ok. There were a few missteps, but it was all good now. It was ok.

_Armin is ok too._ He reassured himself. Armin went back home with Mikasa after the 3 of them spent the day together. He would see him tomorrow, and wouldn't be met with the terrified eyes that he saw in his dream. Instead, he thought about the kind smile and soft eyes he was met with in reality.

It took a while, but he finally fell back into a dreamless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> writing eren's nightmare was surprisingly natural so. might have to question that about myself later
> 
> have i mentioned this is a lot longer than the original iron giant story?
> 
> bc it is


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this took way longer than i intended. i wrote the future chapters first, this was just a summary for the longest time before i was able to come back to it and actually write the thing, i appreciate the wait!
> 
> this is also probably. too long. but Oh Well.

Eren felt a poke against his skin, then another. He grunted before blinking large eyes open, attempting to focus on the wakening world. His vision became less blurry with each blink, and soon he was met with a familiar kind face.

"Hello, Eren," Armin gently said. His smile was soft, as it usually was when waking up his friend. Eren stretched his skin in a "grin," happy as usual to see the smaller. Armin laughed, and rubbed his nose, "Slept in a little late, huh?"

Eren grunted, shrugging his shoulders. "Come on Eren, you should be ready to see if Sasha needs help," he laughed.

He rolled his eyes, a remarkably human-like gesture that filled Armin with more joy than he'd admit. Following that, Eren turned to rest his head on his arms, covering his eyes with his hands, feigning sleep.

Armin laughed louder, "Hey! I was just joking!" He made the futile attempt to push Eren's hand out of the way. "Tch- I know you're faking it! Otherwise your hand wouldn't be glued to your face!" He giggled, still trying to pry Eren's hand away.

The response was a loud, very fake "snore" from the titan.

" _You_ ," Armin said as he laughed. He crossed his arms, waiting for Eren's response.

The large slowly moved his hand away from his face and, much to Armin's unfortunate liking, revealed bright and playful yellow-green eyes. He was lost in them for a few seconds before Eren chuffed a greeting to him.

"There he is!" He said, returning a hand to Eren's nose. Eren purred, but was cut short from enjoying Armin's affection. Ears perked up as he blinked curiously towards something behind Armin.

Armin stopped petting him and turned, meeting Mikasa.

"He's happy to see you." She smiled, not catching the blush that crept onto Armin's face. Or, if she did, she didn't say anything about it. "Hello again Eren."

Eren chirped and made a sloppy wave with his hand. It actually caused Mikasa to let out a single breath of laughter.

The couple hours were spent first saying hello to Sasha and getting a good lunch. Afterward, Armin decided to show off stuff he had been able to teach Eren- and talk about what he learned from him.

Eren sat cross-legged as Armin unconsciously paced back and forth- notebook in hand as he flipped through pages. The two girls sat on the lawn chairs Sasha brought out, listening to what Armin was saying.

"If I'm correct, the breathing is for heat regulation, not so much oxygen intake-" he flipped through more pages, scanning for notes about Eren's inner workings. "His whole system is different; obviously, there's no digestive system whatsoever since there's no need to eat-" he paused, trailing his finger along a page, following the words. "Of course, there's the question of where he gets energy from, if not from food-"

Mikasa listened intently, honestly intrigued by the titan. Sasha was too but, most of it was politeness. Armin was talking pretty fast, and it was hard to follow. It was impossible not to pick up some of his enthusiasm though; it practically radiated from him. Mikasa felt similarly, her smile was evident.

"He has a circulatory system of course. You can see his veins all across his body, and I've felt- he has a heart, of course." He stumbled a bit with that part but quickly recovered with a cough. "I thought maybe he got energy from the sun, but I have little to go on, so for now that seems unlikely-" He looked at Eren, smiling and happy to see Eren return it. He turned back to the notebook before speaking again. "I wonder if he has a stomach, he knew what it was when I taught him about it-" There was a grunt in confirmation. "Though I can't imagine why, if he doesn't have a digestion system then what use would a stomach have?"

He didn't seem to notice he stopped talking, as he was focusing on something in the notebook, brow furrowed. Sasha decided to talk, "So..." She couldn't really figure out how to put it delicately, but she was legitimately curious what with all this talk about Eren. They all looked to her.

"Uhh... is there like, a reason he, you know..." She asked, hoping that was enough. Armin seemed lost, but she heard a quiet snort from Mikasa before she sipped her coffee. She had to will down her own smile from that. "Well, you know-"

"I don't... follow?"

"He doesn't have, thankfully I might add, a- uh-"

"No! He doesn't!" Armin said quickly, blushing.

"I thought maybe you found a reason!" She put up her hands in mock defense.

He ignored the girls' attempts at keeping their laughter quiet. "I don't... know why. Much like the digestive system, there doesn't seem to be any- uh- signs of a reproductive system," he coughed awkwardly and quickly moved on. "There's so much to learn about him still, and he's learned so much as well..." with that, he started beaming once more. "He is so close to a human, it's incredible! Of course, his hearing is a lot better; I would guess his vision too."

"He does have quite the personality," Sasha remarked.

It might have been an insult, albeit a playful one, but it only filled Armin with more pride. "Right! He's incredibly smart too, and..." He looked over to Eren, not leaving his gaze as he spoke. "He's a good friend." His eyes lingered before turning back to the girls. "He deserves to be known without anyone being afraid of him."

Both girls smiled, nodding in agreement. "You're both doing perfectly fine, I'm confident it'll be ok," Mikasa assured the both of them.

"Yep! You convinced the biggest loud mouthed weenies in this town, that's a good start," she joked, earning a laugh from Armin.

"Speaking of which, they're due to come soon, aren't they?" Armin asked her. She had mentioned that Connie and Jean would be over again, the former giving her a call to ask if they could visit.

"Uh huh, I should probably fix them up some plates. I told them they could come for lunch, although it IS already 4 in the afternoon, lazy asses," she mumbled to herself before she got up to get the plates of food.

"I'm going to get more coffee," Mikasa told Armin. He nodded to her as she got up to join Sasha in the kitchen. She turned her head over to look back at Armin and Eren, a soft smile finding its way onto her face as Armin laid a hand on one of Eren's knees, unaware of her noticing.

Eren purred as Armin rubbed his knee. The smaller smiled at the purrs and watched his hand against the darker skin, thinking how nice it looked against his own-

Armin coughed, then looked to Eren with a soft grin. The titan looked at him, offering a short chuff and that smile of his. Oh, his smile was one of Armin's favorite things.

"Sasha's right- you've got quite the personality," Armin said with a faint blush dusting his cheeks.

The titan tilted his head, causing Armin to laugh. "It's a good thing!" He patted his knee reassuringly.

Eren moved to lay down with arms folded underneath his head. He grunted, and a short burst of steam blew against Armin, causing the smaller to stagger a bit in surprise.

"Hey! I was being serious!" He laughed. He placed a hand on Eren's nose, "You're funny, to start." Eren hummed, purr still sounding as Armin gently scratched his nose. "Let's see..." he placed a curled hand against his chin and mouth in playful thought as he smiled, "Always helpful," he continued, "And very kind and sweet- that's an important part."

Eren whined, appearing to be a little confused and flustered. Armin laughed, rubbing his hand up along the length of Eren's nose, "And _cute-_ " he teased.

The titan loudly groaned, then grunted to envelop Armin in steam.

"Ah- Hey!" Armin laughed, waving away the steam. "Don't think I'm finished," he threatened. It was followed with laughter once Eren whined again.

Armin let his thumb move up and down against Eren's skin. "You're... so special, Eren." Oh, he didn't mean to say that. And _oh,_ Eren started purring and looked right into him, he suddenly forgot what breathing was.

"I- uh-" he stuttered. He couldn't even make it through a couple days without his newly acknowledged feelings scrambling all coherent thought. He would hope his now-warm cheeks was unnoticed by the titan, or not something Eren knew the meaning of anyway.

Eren chuffed at him; his way of giving a friendly gesture. That of course, didn't help.

The smaller looked at his dear friend, thinking absolutely ridiculous things.

_Why not then?_ He could tell him right then, and maybe that could help, and maybe he'd also-

"Eren," Armin said, placing a hand to run along the larger's face. This received a soft hum from the titan.

_What am I doing?_

He tried to steady the shaking breaths he took. It was hard, considering Eren was looking right at him with his content and happy expression that could make Armin's head spin all over again.

_This is a bad idea._

He swallowed.

"Eren... I..."

_Stop it!_

"Hey, Armin!"

The blond gasped, too loudly for his own liking, and pulled back from Eren to turn and see Connie, quickly followed by the less-energetic Jean.

Adding to the embarrassment was Armin suddenly finding it hard to speak. He stuttered before finally getting out an awkward greeting.

Neither questioned the behavior, most likely brushing it off as shyness. "How's the uh, big guy?" he asked.

"Oh, Eren. He's- he's great," Armin replied.

"That's good!" Connie said, followed by a nod from Jean. They kept their distance, and it was apparent they were still a little nervous around the titan, but they were slowly getting used to him.

Luckily Sasha walked out with their now-cold lunch before things got more awkward. After quick bickering between the three regarding chilled food and schedule maintenance, Armin was finally able to calm his strung up nerves. He was still upset with himself, almost confessing to Eren, not even a couple days after he barely confessed to himself, AND almost giving that information to the others. That would have been a disaster. He certainly wouldn't do that again.

Despite Eren being the source of his emotional turmoil; Armin still found talking about him to be the perfect thing to calm him down. Just like before, he easily got caught up in everything (almost everything) about Eren. Sharing his discoveries was easy and therapeutic, regardless of how much he might have been rambling.

The others listened too and asked plenty of genuine questions. To have all these people on his and Eren's side was fantastic, and it gave Armin a good amount of relief.

Eren didn't seem to question Armin, which the latter was also thankful for. The titan laid there content as Armin talked about the inner workings and other discoveries about the titan. It wasn't as interesting, to Eren, as yesterday when Armin recalled their times together to the others, but he took comfort in hearing Armin's voice as he usually did.

"So where do you think he's from?" Connie asked.

Armin blinked, "Uh, well we're not sure where he's from, and Eren doesn't really remember so-"

"Well yeah but like, what do you think?"

"What do I think?"

"Yeah. You're smart right? I thought maybe you had thought of something. A possibility or whatever."

"Nicely explained," Jean offered sarcastically.

"Shut up."

Of course, Armin did think of it. Since Eren had no memory, he had spent plenty of time lost in his own thoughts about what happened with Eren. "Well..." Armin started, not really sure how to translate his thoughts into sentences. "I've thought of a lot of possibilities, but nothing seems to make sense, to me."

"Because he can't remember?"

"No, not really. It's just... he's so big right?" Affirmative nods followed that. "So where could he have been, even a cave or- or something big enough to hide him would be obvious. It's something we- Eren and I- are working on. I'm sure he can remember more." With that, he patted Eren against his cheek, which got a low chuff in response.

"Well if you're confident in him, there's nothing to be worried about," Sasha offered. Mikasa smiled, nodding in agreement.

"Yeah, especially considering those military police people snooping about again, I'd be freaked the hell out," Jean said. Connie nodded.

Silence was followed before Armin questioned the statement.

"What- what do you mean?" He asked with genuine confusion, as well as a tinge of fear. Eren looked back and forth between Armin and the others, not understanding what was going on entirely.

"That guy from before who came after Hannes' ravings about Eren, remember?" Connie asked, before processing what was happening. "Wait... you didn't know?"

"What!?" Armin exclaimed.

"Hang on, hang on-" Sasha stood up, looking toward Connie and Jean. "When did you see this guy?"

"Earlier today-"

"WHAT!?" Armin yelled again. Eren still didn't understand what was happening, but Armin's reactions were enough to get him nervous.

"We thought you knew-"

"How the hell are we supposed to know, Jean!?" Sasha added, almost as freaked out as Armin was.

Mikasa was already up by Armin and Eren's side, "You said there was more than one?" She questioned.

"Yeah, there were three I think," Connie answered.

"A blonde girl and guy, and then that guy from before," Jean continued.

Mikasa recalled the name of the officer, "Bertholt-"

All attention was brought to the loud, interrupting noise that came from Eren, like a startled growl.

"Eren!?" Armin said with concern.

The titan furrowed his brow, his eyes cast downward as his breathing got erratic.

"What is it-" Armin questioned as gently as he could, though his concern for Eren easily took over his tone. Eren didn't seem to understand his own reaction either, clearly trying to gather something together as to why the name had suddenly gotten him upset.

"Does he- does he know that guy?" Sasha asked.

"I-" Armin looked at Eren, then back at the group. "I think so."

Eren whined, beyond nervous now. Armin attempted to reach over and calm Eren down, but Eren quickly protested with a groan.

"I don't think he wants to be touched right now, Armin," Mikasa said.

Armin frowned, "But-"

"Armin." Mikasa grabbed his shoulders. "We need to hide him; those officers could check over here at any time." Despite her stern voice, her eyes were soft.

He swallowed, and nodded, "I can take him into the rightmost forest, they shouldn't need to check around there."

"Ok," Mikasa responded. "I'll stay here with Sasha and the rest; we'll do everything we can."

Armin turned back to Eren who was still anxious. "Eren, follow me ok, we're gonna keep you hidden."

Eren nodded, getting up to follow Armin who guided him into the trees from his spot on the ground.

They made their way into a secluded clearing in the woods and waited there.

They waited a long time.

Armin's mind was swarming, and his heart was- well, it was hurting. Eren refused to let Armin comfort him, leaving the smaller to sit by his side as he watched Eren suffer through his own thoughts in silence.

He was being stupid, he told himself. Eren was upset and nervous and didn't want contact from him, and he should respect that, he reasoned with himself.

Still, it hurt anyway. _Why can't you just let me help you?_ He thought with frustration. Armin kept fighting back tears, not wanting to cause more problems.

He tried to focus on other things, tried to figure out what was going on. Clearly, there was a connection there, with Eren and the military police. The titan was just as lost as he was, and was obviously going through frustration at himself for not putting together the pieces.

Armin attempted to talk to Eren, asking a question or two or even getting Eren's mind off of it. However, Eren wasn't in the mood for any of that, and gave little response to Armin's efforts, dampening the smaller's spirit even further.

After torturous hours of waiting, the group came to tell them it was all ok. Armin felt a small current of relief wash through him, happy for at least the safety of his friend. Still, his spirit was low and had a lot was going on in his mind.

"Did they come up to the scrapyard?" Armin asked.

Sasha nodded, "Yeah, but it was pretty easy to wave them off."

"They obviously know about Eren," Armin said.

"Yes, they do," Mikasa confirmed. "They were hiding any information for what they were looking for, as much as they could anyway."

"Apparently two hunters saw Eren in the woods," Jean interrupted.

Mikasa caught Armin's look of surprise and worry, "It's the only reason they came back." She told him reassuringly. "They don't seem to have much else to go on, so they're leaving again after their search."

"Yeah... but they might come back; they're really desperate on finding what's going on here, especially if all it takes is another report from two random guys hunting in the forest," Sasha said.

Armin took a deep breath, trying to compose himself. "Ok... so they might come back. We'll have to be prepared for that; meanwhile, we just have to keep focusing on getting Eren ready to meet more people." He turned to Eren, who was now watching him talk to the others from his spot in the clearing. He still felt an aching in his heart, but it was still filled with fondness for his best friend. "I'll keep doing what I have been doing, but I'll be thinking about the military police as well and try to get to the bottom of this."

"We're with you Armin, both of you," Mikasa reassured him again. The others nodded in confirmation.

"Thank you, from the both us," he told her. She gave him a soft smile.

Armin told Eren to follow him; that it was ok now. Eren got up as the two followed the others back to the scrapyard in silence.

The group said their goodbyes after a few minutes of talking amongst one another. Eren was still in his own mind, much to Armin's dismay. The usually expressive titan was silent as he pondered, not even a cute noise in response to someone talking. After a while of just the both of them and the two girls, he said goodbye to Eren as well.

"I'll see you tomorrow ok Eren?" He asked, almost nervously, as if saying anything would upset the titan further.

Eren gave a small grunt of affirmation. Armin smiled softly at that, as little as it was. He instinctively put a hand to caress Eren, before catching himself halfway. His hand lingered in the air before pulling back to his side. He coughed, "Well- goodnight." He turned to follow Mikasa to their car as they headed home.

The titan wanted to say something, or do something, but didn't. He sighed as he watched the car drive away. Today wasn't a very good day at all. His mind was more of a mess than usual. On top of it all, Armin wasn't happy either, and Eren hated that.

He hated a lot of things.

Those people- he knew them. He knew them from somewhere. He hated them.

He was angry. He remembered that feeling.

He didn't want to think about all of this, it was frustrating and confusing, and it made him feel so, so angry.

Hours were spent between trying to sleep and getting lost in thought.

He got no sleep that night; instead, his anger kept boiling over, and the fire became unbearable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woah hi. next chapter is already being proof-read so it should be up much sooner than this one was.
> 
> i thought about doing illustration as well since that's something im actually Confident in doing, but it would make the chapters look waaay longer than they already are (and they're already pretty long).


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's 3 am rn when i post this
> 
> chapters should be updated a lot faster now, until the last one
> 
> since still need to. finish writing that.

Things were a disaster.

With the second visit of the military police, and there being more than one this time, the danger seemed all the more real. There was a nameless fear whispering in the back of both Armin's and Eren's heads. Even more so for the latter, who could not recall for the life of him what the connection was with the military police.

Armin was smart; entirely brilliant to anyone who knew him well enough. He gathered that they were obviously after Eren. They might have been tracking him his whole life; Armin couldn't be certain. It was clear that this was no longer a case of officers just responding to a report as he had thought in the beginning. They knew Eren existed, and they wanted to get him into their custody (however they'd manage to do that, Armin really didn't want to think about).

Oh and it didn't stop there of course. On top of the fear and danger of their situation, what with the very likely possibility of Eren being hunted, there was a whole other thing to deal with. You know, the thing that had Armin thinking about Eren more often than not, and not just about worrying for him. Armin found himself daydreaming (and, well, just regular dreaming) about the titan and his eyes and messy hair and cute pointed ears and laughter and personality and _god dammit not again stop thinking about it._

He wanted to tell Eren how he felt but knew he couldn't. It would bring nothing but trouble, he told himself. Eren wouldn't feel the same way, Armin was certain of that. He was already his dearest friend; he didn't want to ask for more. Still, the aching in his heart...

 _GAH._ Armin groaned, shoving a pillow onto his face. He was in his room still and had woke up about an hour ago. He had been laying there with his thoughts that ended up only frustrating himself. And yet, there he lay, still dwelling on the very thoughts that frustrated and confused him.

He should be thinking about what the hell they were going to do about the government officers, but he argued to himself that he already did, and a lot already. That was true of course, he was worried about his closest friend and spent hours in a pit of anxiety already.

The other matter at hand, he just couldn't help. How would it even work if... if Eren were to feel the same. They couldn't really tell anyone, right? No one would understand it. Armin didn't really care about there being the impossibility of them being able to do a whole lot of intimate things. Of course, thinking about that made him blush anyway, even though his mind only really thought of hugging and kissing and gentle touches. That would be nice though, to be able to kiss him and other things too and-

 _STOP._ He sat up on his bed in a huff. After attempting to calm himself down, he changed out of his pj's into regular clothes. He went downstairs to eat breakfast by himself since Mikasa was gone early that day with Sasha to run errands and most likely see if they could find out anything about the officers' inquiries as well. He got his book bag together before heading outside towards his bike. He got on and rode to the scrapyard where Eren would be.

If he were honest with himself, he was a little afraid to go to the scrapyard. With yesterday ending on a sour note and his confusing feelings for Eren; it was another reason he lingered in the safety of his bed instead of going to the scrapyard as soon as he could as he usually did. Still, he wanted to see his friend and hoped today would be a little better.

It would be a good day to read their story, and maybe read a book he borrowed about something far away from their little town. Despite being confused, and a little scared, about his feelings towards his friend, he still held nothing but joy when they spent time together. He was still his friend after all, and their time together was always cherished.

When Armin got there, he was not greeted by anyone. Even when he went into the scrapyard, Eren wasn't there like he usually was. Armin hopped off the bike, parking it next to Sasha's house.

"Eren?"

The last time this had happened, Eren was hiding from Connie and Jean. Armin was immediately nervous, searching the whole scrapyard to find Eren.

He checked Eren's archway of trees, then moved around the many piles of junk in search of the titan.

Still, he was nowhere to be found.

"Eren!? EREN!" Armin started to call out more frantically. What if they came back? What if they found him? _Armin you coward why'd you wait so long to get to him! Especially when he was all alone._

Birds to the northwest drew him out of his mental scolding; they were flying from what looked like the lake. Maybe Eren was there. Armin had to hope, had to try.

He rode his bike along the road, pushing against the pedals with all his strength as he sped to the lake. His heart was pounding, and he felt a tightness in his throat that made it hard to breathe.

He made a sharp turn into the dirt road that led to the lake. _Almost there, please be there. Please._

If there was any greater power in the universe, it showed a small act of kindness then. Armin almost collapsed in a wave of relief at just the sight of Eren if it weren't for the fact he needed to get to him to make sure he wasn't just hallucinating. He jumped off his bike, letting it fall to the ground without a care as he rushed over to Eren.

"Eren! Oh my god I was so scared! Why'd you come all the way here alone!?" He yelled to him as he came closer. Eren was laying on his left side, back towards Armin. He was almost entirely in the lake, only his arms and head were against the dry ground.

As he got closer to him, Armin realized it wasn't time to be relieved just yet. Eren wasn't even responding to him; he didn't perk up or anything. He just laid there.

"Eren? What's wrong?" He questioned, the worry evident from his shaking voice. He reached out to touch Eren's back, but recoiled with a small yell. Eren's skin was burning hot, like a pan over a stove. It only increased his anxiety.

He ran to the other side of Eren to face him as he shouted, "You're boiling! What's going on!?" He saw now that Eren was shaking, and his head was pointed down to the ground with his dark hair covering his face. His breathing was ragged, and one of his large hands was sinking his fingers harshly into the ground.

"Eren!?" He crouched down in front of his covered face, wanting to touch him but not even sure he could with how hot his temperature was.

"Please it's ok, can you look at me? I just want to help you," He begged, voice still shaking.

It took a few seconds for Eren to respond at all, but slowly he turned his head to look at Armin. Most of his face was still covered in disheveled dark hair, but Armin was able to make out his face, and it nearly broke his heart.

He looked absolutely horrified, and it struck fear into Armin's very soul.

"Too. Hot." The larger mumbled, and steam escaped his mouth in a concerning amount.

"Do- do you know why it's so hot?" He kept catching himself from touching the skin, wanting nothing more than to comfort Eren but knowing it would just burn him and cause Eren to get more upset. He reached for a bunch of hair, attempting to stroke it and comfort him in any way he possibly could. "Did you come to the lake to try and cool down?"

Eren nodded small and stuttery, still very shaken up by whatever happened, if anything. His hand dug deeper into the ground, and his breathing was uneven and heavy.

"Eren! Hey, please try and calm down, you're gonna hurt yourself!" Eren only whined in response, breath getting worse. Armin could feel himself sweating, and didn't know what he could do.

"Whatever's happening I- I can help you, ok?" He told him in a rushed tone, brow furrowing with worry. His hands didn't leave his hair. "You're my friend Eren, remember that. I'm always here for you!"

The talking seemed to help, although slowly. Eren tried to loosen his harsh grip on the ground and tried to breathe well. The breaths proved to be too hard; like he had forgotten what breathing normally was like in the middle of what looked like a horrible panic attack.

"Hey! Hey, it's ok. It's ok, Eren." He tried to comfort him. His voice was gentle, although it was still laced with worry. "Eren. Look at me and follow my breath ok?"

Slowly, very slowly, Eren was regaining his regular breathing pattern. He watched Armin take in a breath, not moving his eyes away from Eren's panicked gaze. He followed him, trying to breathe like Armin was showing him. Within a couple of minutes, he was able to breathe ok again, and he let his body relax along with the grip he had on the ground.

After a few moments, Armin talked to him again. "Are you scared of something?" He whispered. He could tell Eren's temperature was slowly lowering, but it was still scalding.

Eren moaned a sad sound, confirming his question. "Does it have something to do with those people yesterday, from the military police?"

The mere mention of them seemed to do it, Eren was already starting to panic again. Armin made hurried but gentle sounds of comfort, stroking Eren's hair a little more frequently. "Eren! It's ok. It's ok. You're scared, but it's ok to be scared, I'm here ok?" Armin's comfort was welcomed, and Eren came down from the panic easier this time.

"They're not going to hurt you Eren, and they're not going to take you away." Eren listened with glistening eyes, Armin could tell he'd be crying if he could. The sight of it made his own eyes well up. "I'll always be here to reach you Eren, I promise." He said it with complete certainty, his whole being devoted to it.

He reached over to caress him, but Eren jerked back in sudden movement. "Eren?" Armin said in a hurt tone.

Eren whined, feeling guilty. So it wasn't exactly being taken away he was scared of, at least not completely.

Armin furrowed his brow, determined. He knew Eren wouldn't like it right now, but he couldn't let that get in his way. The reason Eren didn't want Armin to touch him was wrong anyway. He surged forward, putting his arms against Eren's skin. He was still really warm, but at least now it wouldn't burn him.

Eren, of course, drew back quickly, and growled.

"Stop it!" Armin shouted at him, tears already starting to streak down his cheek. "You're not going to hurt me!" His fists were clenched at either side of him, and his own breath began to get heavy.

Eren whined, shaking his head. _You don't understand, Armin._

"No! You listen!" He pointed at Eren before throwing his arm back down to his side. "I hate this! I hate when you act like you're some- some awful creature and you avoid me!" The tears fell freely now as he hiccuped between sentences. "No one should treat you like that, yourself included!" He didn't mean to start shouting, but it was all too much. "And you can't leave like that! I was so scared! I thought they took you away!"

Eren could only just stare, stunned at Armin's loud words. "You can't hide these things!" Armin fell to his knees, still looking at Eren with red-shot eyes. "I don't want to lose you..." He didn't know what point he was trying to make. Or rather, he just had too many things he was trying to get across. "Eren... please don't move away from me... that's what hurts. Not when you're near me, but when you move away." He sniffed, rubbing a blue sleeve against his face.

Eren let out another sad moan. He let his own self-consciousness get to him, and it led to Armin feeling this way. He felt so awful and guilty, he never wanted Armin to be hurt, and ended up doing it anyway. He moved slowly back, so his face was close to Armin, and sadly moaned again.

"Oh, Eren-" Armin cried, and leaned his head against his nose. He grabbed at the skin, careful not to hurt him.

After a few minutes of quiet sniffling against Eren, he spoke again. "I know how hard it is Eren..." His thumb rubbed circles into Eren's always warm skin. "Please don't feel guilty... I just want you to be ok, and I want to help... I know you'd be the same if I were in your place." Eren hummed solemnly, admitting that was true.

"Can you tell me what happened?" He whispered, voice gentle.

Eren took a second to respond, but he did in his own quiet voice. "Remembered."

Armin gasped softly, but didn't move from his spot against Eren, and kept caressing him with his thumb. "You remembered something... and it scared you?"

Eren nodded softly to confirm. "In cage." Eren moved his arms a little closer to Armin, which caused the smaller to rub his cheek against Eren, reassuring him it was ok. "Kept in cage. Dark... lonely."

Armin took in a sharp breath. "A cage? Who would ever do that to you- and why," He bit down on his lip, trying not to let out another cry. He nuzzled against Eren more, comforting the both of them.

"Was dangerous..." Eren recalled.

" _Dangerous?_ The only thing dangerous are those _monsters_ who did that to you!" He lifted his head up, staring into one of Eren's eyes. "Do you remember anything else? Is more of the government aware of what happened, of what those people under the military police are trying to still do?" Eren thought for a moment, brow furrowing in strained concentration, trying to recall anything else.

He shook his head, not being able to remember anything else. Armin put his hand on him to gently stroke him again. "To think they were able to hide someone as big as you... and so close by... and no one noticed."

There was something in the fog of Eren's head that was just too far back to reach. Something poking through but the mist was too thick. It was aggravating.

"You must have been underground... I can't think of anywhere else they'd be able to hide you..." He let out a frustrated sigh. "And just why? I don't understand there's- there's nothing wrong with you!" He leaned his head back against Eren, taking a deep breath. Eren hummed, attempting to comfort Armin like he had done for him. "Everyone in The Walls is so paranoid and stricken with fear... so much so they'd apparently trap something like you."

It was horrible to think about, Eren being caged up and treated like some horrific monster. He wasn't a monster, anyone who gave him a chance could see that. The thought of him being alone in the dark for who knows how long was awful. They probably... they probably hurt him too. They most likely tortured him and tested him in horrific ways in the name of "science" and protection. As if the government actually cared about science and discovery, it was all just an excuse to abuse their power in whatever way they wanted. Armin hated the thought, but it still didn't make sense. None of it did, of course, but something just didn't fit what he imagined their twisted mindsets were like. If they feared Eren and thought he was just a monster, then why would they keep him alive? Armin was beyond glad they did, but what were they trying to gain by just keeping him trapped. What would they learn from him that would be useful to their own selfish gains?

It was too much to think about, too frustrating and infuriating and a bit terrifying too. He couldn't let them find Eren; he'd do everything he could to keep him safe. He was never confident in his abilities, but that wouldn't stop him from trying with all his might.

Armin had his whole body leaning against Eren, one hand still stroking him gently. He sighed in contentment. Despite everything that was happening, they still had each other, and it was beyond comforting. "I promised I'd always be there for you Eren, and I'm going to keep that promise... always." He rubbed his cheek against Eren's larger one. "I won't let them hurt you."

Eren brought his arms closer to him, gently pressing his large hand against Armin's back.

"Eren..." he whispered to him. He was more than grateful for the hug, and knew Eren struggled with contact, for fear of harming Armin. It was nice to receive his affection though; it made his own self-doubt feel practically invisible if even for a moment. Eren did that a lot; helped Armin with his anxiety and self-worth, and Armin knew Eren didn't even realize it. He didn't see how good he was and just how much he had helped Armin.

They both needed to work on their own self-confidence, and it was a hard thing to do, but they could do it together. They could go through this and make it out together ok. Even better than ok, someday.

Not just that, but they were both determined to make it passed the military police, whatever it was they were trying to do. They would make it through and wouldn't let themselves be separated... they had to believe that.

Despite the intimate position, Armin didn't fluster or feel embarrassed about the beating of his own heart. He was too wrapped up in the comfort and love for his friend to notice anything else.

Eren felt confusing things, but easily just ignored them to just lay there and hold Armin as best as he could.

With one large thumb, Eren rubbed Armin's back with warmth seeping through, much like Armin had done countless times. The smaller hummed, leaning harder against Eren's face. The fabric of his jacket and shirt moved along with Eren's caress, but he didn't mind.

The fabric bunched up above Eren's thumb and the heated skin made contact with Armin's own. Armin jerked back, which only led to the skin being pressed closer together. He quickly composed himself; he was just a little surprised by the contact. However, Eren must have realized the accidental touch and was about to move away apologetically.

Armin was quick to stop him. "No!" He told him in a hushed tone. Eren was held in place, taken aback by his sudden outburst. "It's ok..." He told him, and he rubbed his nose against Eren. "Don't stop... please."

If Eren could blush, he would. Instead, he just felt warmer, and a whisp of steam escaped him. He threw any leftover nervousness far, far away, and just let himself feel only fondness and caring for his friend.

He pushed the fabric up against his thumb. Luckily, Armin liked to wear loose clothes, so Eren was able to move them with ease. He gently ran his thumb against Armin's back. He followed the curve of Armin's spine and felt Armin let out a relaxed hum.

Armin snuggled closer, with one hand's thumb moving against Eren's nose. The other drifted down to move against the pulled and wrinkled skin above Eren's teeth. Eren was the one to hum then, and the steam felt warm against Armin's exposed skin as part of it stuck onto him.

It was starting to drive Eren a little crazy, the awfully strong desire to just hold Armin closer. To be able to hug him as tight as he could and not have to worry about injuring him. For now though, gently caressing Armin was enough.

They stayed like that for a long while, just caressing and comforting each other.

"I'm glad you escaped," Armin whispered.

Eren grunted happily. He turned his head to nudge Armin with his nose. Armin stumbled from the gesture, but laughed as Eren nuzzled his face, squishing one of his small cheeks. With that, Armin had Eren walk them both back to the scrapyard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lovely boys
> 
> i ended up drawing them anyway i couldn't help it (not featured in this fic)


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well this story is coming close
> 
> im writing the last chapter, so it'll take a little longer to have up (within two weeks, hopefully)
> 
> i /might/ make it two chapters, i still don't really know how long it'll be

A few days passed, and winter finally came. The government officials didn't come back, and for that Armin was glad. He knew it probably wouldn't be the last they'd see of them, but now with new-found confidence and friends on his and Eren's side... he had faith they could face them for the third time. He thought that by spring, he could finally let Eren show himself to the town. It'd be scary, but if they were going to get more people to believe in him, and in Eren, they had to show them that he was good.

Mikasa more often than not joined him and Eren when she was free, and since she knew about Eren now, there was no need to only sneak out when Mikasa was working. She would usually meet up with them after her shift, asking about their day and if anything interesting happened.

So with that fact, Armin spent most of his time at the scrapyard rather than his own house like he used to. He still went to the library to locate more books to read to Eren, and he still took trips into the forest, although he was not alone. They never went too far of course, but sometimes the scrapyard was much too boring to hang around in. By that time, Eren had practically poked around every piece of scrap he could. So the two of them would spend a couple of hours in the nearby woods, sometimes reading or talking or even playing games. Other times they'd just enjoy each other's company, relaxing under the trees as they laid next to each other.

In the scrapyard, they'd usually help Sasha or continue their activities there. Sasha had attempted to convince Armin to have Eren "help her cook again." That was easily declined, even if a rather dramatic whine from Sasha followed it.

Connie and Jean would also visit sometimes. It wasn't always to Armin (or Eren's) liking, but they really did try to make friends, at least Connie did. They were allies at the very least, and they needed that. Eren didn't like Jean very much, the arrogance of him was not to the titan's liking. Armin didn't want to cause any fights, so he usually just calmed Eren's ruffled feathers with soothing words and gentle hands. Of course, he made his own remarks anytime Jean (or Connie for that matter) would make fun of Eren or say something a little inconsiderate or mean. Mikasa would usually step in when things began to get a bit too tense, explaining to him that he really should pick his battles, that we need our friends. She was right, of course. But friends or not, if he heard one of them call Eren scary again, he'd give them a good word or two. Or several. Still, all of them got along well, and he knew everyone was there to help.

The feelings he had for Eren were kept in check, as much as it sometimes hurt. Of course, he couldn't really do anything to stop his heart from beating so fast... or the blush that would appear on his cheek... or the shaky laughter and smiles Eren made him have. Anytime Eren was affectionate to him, or looked at him with those gorgeous eyes, or twitched those adorable ears of his, or did something that was just so remarkably _human,_ Armin could feel his thoughts rush out of him and replaced with flustered movements and stuttery words. Thankfully the others, Eren included, didn't catch on.

Then there was something that began to add to Armin's already busy mind. He spent a lot of time trying to find out what had happened to Eren, and why the government wanted him back in their custody. He started to think about Eren's behavior, and how intelligent he was. His emotions and personality were definitely at the level any human would have. He was empathetic and wonderfully complicated in thoughts and feelings, just like humans were. An idea brewed in Armin's mind, one that would probably seem crazy to anyone else. If his idea was somehow true, then it would explain part of how and why the government had captured him. He wondered and thought it was even possible that the government could also be responsible for Eren and how he was now. It still needed some work, there was too much unknown about everything, but his idea kept him up into the long hours of the night... _the- the possibility that Eren might have been-_

He would shake his thoughts before going too far. It was too much to hope for, based on too little. He couldn't dwell on something like that, not when there was already so much he would dwell on already. Still, it stayed, lingering in the back of his mind and his chest.

 

\---

 

  Today it was starting to finally snow. Armin could barely hold in his excitement when he saw the snowflakes fall gently down out his window. Part of him hoped Eren was still sleeping, as he wanted to see his reaction to the specs.

He quickly got ready to go. He wore a white wool sweater and his usual blue jacket on top. Taking a few more seconds than what was ideal, he found his boots that were used for snow and shoved them on. He staggered a bit, hopping on one foot as he lifted the other one to tie his boot, not bothering to sit on the bed. After his attire was ready, he grabbed his bag filled with a couple of books, and he headed out.

Mikasa didn't have work until later, so they drove there in her car instead of having to take his bike like he usually did.

"Has he seen snow before?"

"Not since he's been here, which is everything he can remember."

Mikasa gave a small smile, "You must be excited for today then."

Armin laughed, "Is it that obvious?"

They pulled into the scrapyard and made their way to the house. Armin saw that Eren was still thankfully sleeping. He parted ways with Mikasa, heading towards Eren in his now usual sleeping spot in the archway of trees. Mikasa herself decided to go visit Sasha inside, who was also probably still sleeping. She frequently forgot to lock her front door, so Mikasa just opened it and made her way inside.

Armin crouched down in front of Eren's face, grinning with excitement. The snow was already about 2 feet thick, and Eren had slept through all of it. Of course, Armin didn't think the snow was able to bother him too much, he didn't seem to be affected by cold temperature, and his own heat was too high- it would have melted any nearby snow (which it looked like it did just that).

The smaller balled up nearby snow; realizing he should have brought some gloves. He figured he could use Eren as a source of warmth, so he didn't let it bother him. Then he tossed the snowball against Eren's nose, stirring the titan awake.

Eren grunted and blinked away the sleep. His eyes focused on the still-crouching Armin in front of him and his ears perked up. He chuffed, greeting his friend. Armin laughed and reached over to rub his hand against Eren. "Good morning."

"Good. Morning." He responded, still a little sleepily. Eren let out a big yawn, stretching his jaw far down and letting out a long whisp of steam; ears pushed down and eyes shut from the yawn. It would have been terrifying to most, but Armin only felt fondness.

He still crouched there, smiling, as he waited for Eren to notice his surroundings. Soon enough, Eren opened his eyes and took in the rest of his vision that wasn't Armin. His eyes were wide as he made a surprised chirp. Armin laughed, knowing what Eren was reacting to.

"It's snow!" Armin stood up, moving a little to the side so Eren could get up. Eren looked at everything around him, mouth hanging a little open. The place was covered in the weird white powder, and the morning sun made it sparkle.

He got up but stayed on his knees. He shimmied forward, tilting his head at the curious feeling of a soft powder that quickly felt like liquid under his legs. There was steam that drifted up from wherever his skin made contact with the snow, a sign of it evaporating swiftly like Armin had assumed it would.

Eren pressed a hand against the snow and grunted curiously as his palm sank lower into the ground. Armin giggled and made his way closer to Eren. "It's frozen water, remember? I taught you about the water cycle a couple weeks ago." Eren's ears perked up, and he nodded to Armin. He looked up at the sky, which still had gentle snowflakes falling towards the ground.

Armin looked up to the sky as well, closing his eyes as he felt the cool specs fall against him. Eren turned his head to look at Armin and felt that funny feeling in his chest again.

He grunted, causing Armin to look back at him. The smaller smiled and crouched down onto the ground to ball up another bunch of snow. He threw it at Eren, hitting his large leg. It melted away quickly, but Eren could still feel the impact of it. Eren made a low rumble in the back of his throat and narrowed his eyes. Armin could tell Eren was trying to smile and backed away slowly, his own smile evident on his face. He knew Eren was about to retaliate.

Eren pulled back his arm and had his hand hovering above the white snow. It didn't take Armin too long to realize what Eren was doing, and he made a run for it. He swung himself to the side, laughing almost wildly, and avoided the large scoop of slushy snow Eren had tried to get him with.

He was hiding behind a pile of junk and peeked over to get a sight on Eren. There he was, roaring as he maneuvered himself closer to Armin. Eren was still on his knees, making their game a little more fair. Armin yelped and ran around the junk pile to avoid the oncoming slush.

"RRAH!" The titan grunted in victory as he bent his head down to where Armin had been seconds ago. He titled his head, realizing Armin wasn't there anymore. Then, he felt a small pelting of snow against his back. Ears perking up, he spun around and saw Armin laugh before he ran back into the labyrinth of scrap metal.

Meanwhile, the two young women in the house were sharing some coffee as they talked. Sasha brought Mikasa her mug of the warm liquid before drinking her own. Before either could sit down, they stumbled from a loud thud from outside as it shook the ground. Mikasa quickly looked out the window, eyes becoming wide with worry. They were almost immediately returned to their normal state, with added softness and a small laugh that escaped her lips.

Eren had dived into the snow in an attempt to get closer to Armin, who had swiftly evaded the onslaught of the snowy wave behind the heap of scrap. Mikasa watched as Eren crept (as well as he could with his big size) slowly to where Armin had vanished behind. Again, Armin snuck up behind him and hit him with another ball of snow. She heard the muffled grunt of surprise from her spot behind the glass window and smiled fondly as Eren chased Armin further into the metal piles covered in snow.

Sasha had joined her by the window pane, laughing at the two outside. "They're like little kids."

"It's nice to see him so happy... and more outgoing." She responded softly. Sasha hummed happily. "He's usually so quiet and... not at all social." She laughed gently, a rare expression that the brunette was thankful for. "Of course I'm not much better in that regard, but he's not as confident in himself as I am." She paused, watching a pile of snow fly from behind a large pile of scrap. "But it seems he's learning to just be himself and open up more, to just enjoy life. I'm beyond thankful that they found each other."

A few moments passed in comfortable silence. Mikasa gazed down at her coffee mug, before saying, "I'm thankful for you too." Sasha blushed, too stunned to say anything. Mikasa looked at her, eyes soft. "Because of you, Eren was kept safe... believe me when I say it is more than appreciated."

Sasha laughed a little awkwardly, casting her gaze to the side. "It's, y'know, no problem."

Mikasa smiled again and leaned her head against Sasha's shoulder. Sasha was red in the face and too shocked to move for a few seconds, but then with a blissful smile, she settled well next to Mikasa. The two watched out the window at the waves of snow and steam and quick blond hair that maneuvered between piles of metal.

Outside, Eren and Armin were lost in their own world. Armin was able to be quick on his feet, navigating around the maze of metal and thinking up different paths to take to surprise Eren with more snowballs. Eren was still very fast himself and was refusing to give up his chase. His determination still had yet to meet a reward, but it was still a whole lot of fun to just laugh and play with his dear friend.

The world was perfect, in that small moment.

In the next, everything came apart.

Armin laughed as he hid behind another junk heap, breath heavy as he waited for Eren to poke his head by him so he'd hit his nose with another snowball. He waited for a few moments, before poking his own face around the pile so he could find Eren.

Blue eyes scanned the area of half-melted snow and lingering steam. With small steps, he wandered slowly out from behind the wall of junk.

"Eren...?"

He caught the sight of Eren's back hunched over behind another wall of the metal Scraps. Grinning, he quickly snuck up to Eren and hit him with another snowball against his back. However, he received no reaction from him. He tried again, and still nothing.

He lifted one eyebrow up, confused. "Eren?" He still smiled, thinking maybe Eren was trying to be sneaky. "What are you doing?"

Eren turned, and Armin's smile disappeared as his face slowly looked at him. He was met with a low growl, and a brow furrowed in anger.

Something must have set off another panic attack, Armin thought. He was quick to rush to Eren, but was not met with the hesitance he was expecting. Instead, Eren hissed at him, steam drifting from his opened mouth. It caused Armin to stop in his tracks.

"Wh-what's wrong Er-" Another growl was let out of his mouth, loud and menacing.

Armin stood his ground, "Remember what I told you! It's ok Eren!" He called out to his friend. It fell on deaf ears, and he was only responded with the titan that rapidly grew in anger.

Still, he stood. His attention was called over by a shout from behind him, calling his name. He spun around, back facing Eren as he stood firm against the ground.

"Armin!" It was Mikasa, followed by three people rushing behind her. "You have to hide Eren" She grabbed his shoulders, not noticing Eren's odd behavior. "They're back! There's a whole fucking army with them!"

His eyes were wide with terror,"What!?"

"Connie and Jean were out in town and saw them on the road here-"

"We came as soon as we could to warn you guys!" Connie said, Jean nodding his head in agreement.

"W-wait but-" Armin started, not sure how to deal with the situation.

"There's no time! I can try and distract them here with Connie and Jean but you three need to get the hell out of here!" Sasha shouted.

Mikasa was the one to walk up to Eren. She called up to him, too focused on their escape to notice his heavy breathing. "Eren, we need to g-"

The others tripped and fell back as Eren swatted a giant hand at Mikasa, effectively throwing her hard against a wall of metal. Armin could hear shouts behind him before quickly running over to Mikasa.

"MIKASA!" He tried to shake her, and was luckily met with a low groan.

"I'm fine..." She mumbled, pressing a hand against her head. With the sound of another loud growl from the titan, Armin pulled her up to push her to where Sasha and Jean grabbed either shoulder, supporting her weight. His eyes went pale at the sight of blood trickling down from her black hair.

"What the hell was that!?" Jean yelled. Armin ran back to the furious giant and tried to get him to calm down.

"Eren! You need to control this!" He shouted up to his friend. His eyes widened at the sight of no longer expressive eyes. Instead, bright solid green eyes pierced into him.

He was silent for too long, and the titan let out a giant roar that blew his hair with hot steam.

"ARMIN! RUN!" Connie yelled as Jean and Sasha were dragging the injured Mikasa away to her car.

"No! What about-" A loud thud shook the ground. He turned around and saw a giant fist brought to the ground; his side getting hit with the freezing ice. With another low hiss, Eren pushed himself against his fist and stood up to his full 50-foot height.

Armin felt his jacket being grabbed as Connie pulled it to get him away. He tripped along as Connie ran with him behind. Armin tried to pry himself from Connie's grip as they both barely made it across the shadow that loomed over them.

"Stop it!" He pushed at Connie, trying to remove the grip he had on his wrist.

Connie ignored his yells of protest and kept trying to pull him along.

Armin was too focused on getting loose that he didn't notice another running his way. He felt another set of hands grab the arm Connie didn't have. Armin yelled and screamed, trying to get away from the strong grip the two had on him.

"Armin! You need to calm down!" Jean yelled from the side of him. He held his arm tight as Connie held the other, the two of them pulling Armin away from the ferocious titan.

Refusing to listen, Armin still thrashed as much as he could, shouting protests in between his incoherent yells. At this point he was kicking about, his whole body was being dragged away.  
  
They made it to the car where Sasha was trying to tend to Mikasa's head wound as best as she could.

"We need to get to a hospital!" She told them. She got up from her spot next to Mikasa in the back seat and hurried over to the group of three.

"He's refusing- to- leave-" Connie struggled out, most of his energy dedicated to holding Armin steady.

"WE CAN'T LEAVE HIM!" Armin yelled back, kicking at Jean's shin, causing him to stumble but not losing his grip.

The titan in question, meanwhile, was still standing with clenched fists. It was like he was waiting, or focusing on something in his head. His eyes were still the bright and solid green, and unending steam drifted from his mouth as if his body was well over the usual boiling temperature.

"Armin-" Mikasa's voice was weak, and it shook with emotion.

Armin stopped thrashing and looked at Mikasa as the two loosened their grip.

"They'll do anything to get him- we have to stop them but-" she took a breath in, "You can't- you need to be safe-"

"He's not gonna hurt me!" Armin immediately protested.

"Look at what he did to Mikasa, Armin!" Sasha yelled back.

"I'm ok! He's- he's upset right?" Mikasa stuttered.

Armin nodded his head, thankful she understood at least part of it. "The military police is triggering something from his memories! This isn't his fault I-"

Before Armin could continue, and before anyone could respond, Eren let out another loud and echoing roar.

Everyone looked at the titan, who was now staring at them. He growled, and took a slow and large step forward, almost as if he was learning to walk again.

"That's our cue to leave!" Connie exclaimed. Both he and Jean started pushing Armin into the car to sit beside Mikasa.

"NO!" Armin yelled, and again he kicked Jean in the leg. Jean grunted in pain while Armin shoved his shoulder hard against Connie. Successfully freeing himself from their hold, he bolted toward the oncoming titan.

The others all called to him in panic, but he ignored them in favor of reaching out to his friend.

Eren met him by falling down on his knees, shaking the ground. He roared at Armin, his jaws horrifically long as skin stretched as far as it could. Armin was met with a jet of boiling-hot steam and quickly shielded himself in pain. His eyes stung with the threat of tears as his teeth clenched down, withstanding the pain of the fire-hot steam.

There were footsteps behind him. He looked back up to Eren, ignoring the heartache and pain he had just endured. His eyes were suddenly wide with hope.

Eren's labored and animalistic breathing was accompanied by the sight of his eyes slowly fading back into their normal form. His ears perked up as he grunted in confusion.

Before Armin could fully reach out to him, and before Eren could take in his surroundings, the footsteps became two pairs of hands once again holding him back. Sasha ran up in front of the group.

"GET BACK!" She gestured at Eren, who only responded with a flinch and a blink of confusion. "I SAID GET BACK!" Sasha continued to yell at him. Eren flinched back even more, surprised over her- what it seemed like to him- unwarranted shouting. She was breathing heavy and looked like she was terrified of something.

"W-why?" Eren stuttered, hurt. Arms were held at either side as his shoulders were raised in some sort of mix of shame and fear.

"What are you doing!?" Armin called to her as Connie and Jean held him in place, despite him struggling again. "Sasha, he's our FRIEND!"

"He's DANGEROUS, Armin! He's unstable! Why do you think the military was after him!?" She argued. Her voice was shaking as if her own words were hurting her as well. Like even she didn't want them to be true.

"I-I- not... dangerous-" Came the most heartbreaking tone Armin had ever heard in his life. He could see Eren's eyes glisten with tears, as his brow furrowed in sadness.

"Look at Mikasa, Eren!" Sasha pointed to the wounded girl, now bandaged with a blood-stained cloth. Eren's eyes went wide as his pupils shrunk in shock, his breathing becoming quick.

"You did that!"

"NO!" shouted Armin.

"YOU DID THAT TO MIKASA!" Sasha had her own tears forming like this was painful for her to do. She looked back at Armin, who looked at her with dismay, begging her to stop. She frowned, before furrowing her brow as she turned to look back at Eren.

"YOU COULD HAVE DONE THAT TO ARMIN!"

Eren's whole body seemed to tremor from those words. If anything else was said, he didn't hear it. He looked down at his two massive hands as they shook in front of his face, breathing ragged. The panic he felt was indescribable, and the pain was unbearable. He looked over to Armin, and saw disheveled blond hair as tears streaked down his pale face.

Eren whimpered, and stood up. He backed away, shaking his head in denial of what he already knew to be true. Armin was scared of him. He hurt someone like a monster would and he scared everyone.

Armin thought he was a monster.

He was a monster.

Within a few more steps, still not registering any sounds around him, he turned and ran into the dense forest. The titan quickly disappeared, the loud steps soon faded after.

"EREN!" Armin screamed out. The two let go of their grip, accidentally letting Armin fall to the floor on his knees. He stared off into the woods where Eren had taken off, tears still falling along his face. He felt like he couldn't move, the grief and shock were paralyzing.

Sasha didn't look at him, couldn't look at him. She wiped an eye before looking at Connie and Jean, "Get him up. We need to get rid of the military police, and get Mikasa to a hospital."

The two boys looked at each other, surprised by Sasha's dark and serious tone. They both had sad looks as they lifted up a still paralyzed Armin. The blond no longer struggled, and let himself get dragged away toward the car. His stare never left the forest. Even as he was put in the car, he stared down at nothing. His eyes were shot red with the tears that didn't stop until he was dried completely out.

Mikasa looked over, and felt an ache like never before. She placed a gentle hand on his wrist, ignoring the throbbing pain in her head.

Armin grabbed onto her hand with his shaking one, accepting her offer of comfort, as small as it was.

He didn't know what to do. His panic was at an all-time high as grief intertwined itself with his other negative emotions. He wanted to yell and scream more, in hopes that sheer willpower alone would bring his titan back. But now he was in a car that was driving away to town. There would be a whole squadron of people from the military police, with guns and jeeps and other military equipment meant to reprimand, sedate, or even kill Eren.

With Eren running away like that, he didn't think there was a chance to save him now. No one listened, no one could see that it was obviously defensive. How could he show anyone else, let alone the military police, that he was good if they began to shoot at him or worse? They'd easily locate Eren and if Eren became defensive again, he'd end up dead.

He could try and explain that Eren was only being defensive, that he needs help controlling whatever was happening, but he already tried. He tried and tried. All he needed to do was reach out to Eren, just a little longer, just a little more time, he was so close-

That was denied. Before Armin could save him from, whatever this was, the fates stepped in and closed around them. Eren was gone. His Eren was gone and now he was for sure going to die-

_I'll always protect you, Eren, I promise._

He was sick to his stomach, the mere thought of that phrase caused his hands to clench down harshly in fists. He gritted his teeth; eyes burning red from all the emotion.

He had to pull himself together; they needed to get rid of the military police.

_If that's even possible-_

"Armin-" Mikasa's voice broke through the despair surging along his whole being. He turned his head to the side to look at her.

"You shouldn't let the grief stop you," she continued. "We have to at least try to keep Eren safe. Whether it's just prolonging the inevitable or not ever seeing him again, we can at least try."

It stung. The very real, and likely, fact that Eren was going to end up captured or killed. He didn't _want_ to fight if there wasn't any hope.

Still, he understood what Mikasa was saying. If there was a choice between letting Eren go without a struggle or fighting until the very end, he'd choose the latter. That was easier said than done; he couldn't bear to even think about how this was the end.

He didn't know what choice to make, his mind and heart were overcome with grief and so much more.

There was no more time given to him to think more about it.

They were met with the Military Police.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi what's up. I've been really depressed and all that nonsense. I can't believe it's been a year since I created this... wow.
> 
> I apologize for the massively long time to get this up, and for splitting it into 2 chapters because writing this last part has been much longer than I anticipated.
> 
> But! There's just one more chapter after this one, let's get this story told.
> 
> (side note- this one might have more errors now that I can no longer afford my proof reading software, so I apologize for any mistakes!)

The town was covered in snow; dirtied by the tracks of military vehicles. The main road, close to the diner Mikasa worked at, was crowded with the armed vehicles.

Most of the vehicles, except the jeeps and cargo trucks, had guns mounted on them; it was enough to make Armin's stomach feel sick all over again.

"My god..." Sasha mumbled as she parked to the side; the main road too crowded with the parked military vehicles.

They all stepped out of Mikasa's car. Armin attempted to compose himself so he could at least try. Try what exactly, none of them knew still. They just needed to distract them; convince them there was still nothing here, or something.

"They're... really set on finding him," Connie whispered. Sasha nodded slowly, looking onward toward the main road filled with soldiers.

Armin stared at the state of the town as well; not sure what they could do. Why were they even here with a whole fucking army?

Mikasa put a hand on his shoulder, offering more comfort. He looked at her and grabbed onto her hand.

The brief moment of comfort was interrupted by a loud shout.

"There he is!"

Armin looked over to find a face he most certainly did not want to see, accompanied by two others that did not take long to guess who they were.

Bertholt marched over to Armin with a glare. The two people followed behind him, wearing the same suits he wore. They were most definitely the other two in his "department."

"Armin," Connie whispered. The blond looked over to Connie, who continued his whisper, "There's a rooftop Jean and I can look for Eren with; doubt the military police have thought about that yet."

The blond gave a quick and eager nod, turning back to the 3 officers as Connie and Jean left, hopefully not grabbing any suspicions.

Despite everything, Armin did his best to stay keep composed, for Eren's sake. Even if it was prolonging the inevitable.

Mikasa addressed him first, "Mr. Bertholt? I assume you know what's going on?" She glanced over to the woman beside him, sharing a similar icy stare but without the fierce protectiveness Mikasa harbored.

"He knows," Bertholt pointed a finger at Armin, a bead of sweat appearing.

_Do this for Eren._

Armin kept his composure, blinking in feigned confusion.

More sweat appeared on Bertholt's face as he became obviously frustrated, "Oh don't play that shit with me."

"Sir, we don't know what's going on-"

"The giant! Where is it!?" He pressed on, his partners staring on with unreadable expressions.

"I don't know what you're talking about-" Armin said with a twinge of anger.

"Oh you don't, huh?" Came Bertholt's unexpected response. An awful smile appeared on his face, making Armin's stomach drop. The other two officers watched on, the other man appearing to smirk as well.

"Annie," Bertholt said to the woman, who in turn took out something from under her suit jacket. The sight was enough to paralyze Armin.

His camera.

It all came rushing to him in awful clarity.

"Our last visit had us find this on the junkyard's floor, isn't that interesting?" The larger man gave a dark chuckle in response. Bertholt reached to grab the photos Annie held as well, only for it to be grabbed my the larger man.

"I'll be honest kid, I didn't believe Bertholt for a second; I couldn't understand why he kept coming to this shithole." He looked through the photos, smiling with pure malice. "But I gotta say, you've got some pretty good photos here."

He handed the pictures to Armin, who, without really knowing what else to do, took them in his hands.

The irony of the happiest pictures now only causing fear and despair burned.

"Were you close then? To the giant? It certainly seems like you managed to form a bond with it, somehow," the man said as Armin looked through images of him and Eren. He didn't know what to say or what to do.

"These are... just pictures," he tried.

"Doesn't really prove anything," Sasha added. Mikasa kept her eyes on the officers.

"It's enough to get the army here isn't it?" Annie said coldly.

"It's time to hand it over kid, we know it's here," the larger man, Reiner, said. "You might think this giant is fun, but it's dangerous. We're simply trying to do what's in the people's best interest. Protection, if you will. It's a creature that needs to be-"

"Eren." Armin interrupted. Still gazing at the pictures with clenched teeth.

"Pardon?" Reiner responded.

"His name is Eren!" He answered. Armin looked to the officers, "You can't take him! He's not dangerous!" He could here Mikasa and Sasha move closer to him.

The officers looked at each other, surprised by the outburst. That was enough to give Armin another thought.

"You knew that, didn't you? You knew his name! What did you do to him!?" He yelled, Mikasa grabbed his shoulder to keep him from moving forward.

Annie walked up, causing Mikasa to shield Armin further.

"It doesn't concern you, we're taking back a lost asset; I recommend not getting involved further. You already have enough to try you for treason." Mikasa seemed to be attempting to kill her with a stare.

Armin had to think, there was no way the officers would be swayed, considering it was clear they knew everything and still didn't care about Eren's life or wellbeing. He needed people on his side, but how?

He stood there a few moments in silence, trying to think of what to do.

Then a noise from above drew him out of his thoughts.

 

\---

 

Connie and Jean made their way around one of the main buildings as discreetly as they could. Luckily most of the attention was on the main road, so no soldiers were nearby.

"Shit, what'd we get ourselves into?" Jean said.

"You don't wanna do it?" Connie asked in shock.

"Are you insane? Of course I do! But- fuck man, this shit's crazy," he responded as he checked the back door of the building. He took a breath and with one big kick, the door swung open.

"Do you think we'll find him?" Connie asked as they rushed up the flight of stairs.

"I don't know! We gotta try though, right?"

"For Armin's sake, yeah. Eren's too," came the answer from Connie.

Jean swung the rooftop doors open and they rushed to the edge.

"Man I hate heights," Jean said.

"Me too."

"You're still carrying those old binoculars right?" Jean asked. With that, Connie pulled out a small pair of binoculars from under his jacket and began to search for the titan.

"Anything?"

"No..." Connie said. Jean sighed, crossing his arms.

"Wait... wait! I see him! I see him!" Connie exclaimed.

"Let me see!" Jean grabbed the binoculars to look where Connie was looking before. "Fuck, there he is." The titan was walking somberly through the nearby trees, just a little too far for anyone to see below.

"What do we do? I didn't think this far," Connie admitted.

"I didn't either!" Jean replied.

It seemed that something else made the decision for them as Connie leaned over a bit too far and slipped off the icy roof.

 

\---

 

Armin looked up above in shock and saw the two falling from a rooftop.

"CONNIE! JEAN!" Sasha screamed. Jean managed to grab an extended pole from the building as Connie gripped one of his legs.

Plenty of attention was brought to the two in danger, both soldiers and civilians rushed to the scene as they dangled for dear life.

The pole began to crack, much to the horror of Jean and Connie. Before they could say anything, it snapped and they came falling down.

Neither would admit to their lives flashing before their eyes, and neither would have admitted to almost crying from relief at the contact of the large hand that caught them.

It happened so quickly. Armin stared in horror at his friends falling to their deaths before the thunderous, wonderful sound of footsteps came from behind, practically shaking the ground. He had little time to react to them before a shadow over him turned into a titan crashing front-first onto the ground, holding an outstretched palm that now had Connie and Jean on it.

The titan looked down at his friends, before turning over towards the crowd that had appeared behind him. He blinked and placed the two on the ground as they ran back to Sasha and Mikasa.

"Eren!" Armin had yelled almost immediately after he caught them. "Eren!!" He said again, running towards the giant. Eren turned to see his best friend run up to him. The larger whined and offered a hesitant hand to Armin.

He quickly placed both his hands against Eren's large one as he laid his forehead against it; the relief of him being here almost too powerful.

"Not dangerous..." Eren mumbled, sounding more like a plea than a statement. Armin was swift to confirm that; shaking his head as tears rolled down his cheek. "Not at all Eren, ever," he said with a smile.

Their moment together was short-lived, as the crowd of people became acknowledged by Armin as he turned around to face them. He kept one hand against Eren's as he looked towards the crowd in front of them.

The military police soon enough stepped forward; Armin gripped Eren's hand tighter. His friends stood by him as well, and it made him feel less alone in this fight for Eren.

The woman, Annie, spoke first. "I think we'll take it from here-"

"Why?" Armin almost immediately said. "You're clearly wrong, he just saved two people, he's not dangerous." He tried to push the facts forward, hoping the overwhelming evidence was enough to sway the crowd in their favor and drive the Military Police off.

"One act is hardly enough proof for something as unstable as this creature," Reiner started to say, appearing to be speaking loud enough for the crowd to hear him. He turned, now directly addressing the people, "Why would we keep something otherwise? This is an asset that must be kept under professional watch under a secure area, not near an unprepared town under the care of a child, we have no guarantee what could happen," he continued. The military vehicles and soldiers were standing by, waiting for a command.

The townspeople muttered between themselves; it was unclear whose side they were taking.

Armin was at wit's end to figure something out, until suddenly, with more feeling than a thought, he walked onto Eren's hand. It worked for his friends, it could work for the townspeople.

"Look! He's not unstable!" He looked up to Eren, "Pick me up." Eren carefully lifted him up, followed by the gasps of civilians.

Sasha walked up to the three officers. "See?" She placed her hands on her hips as she scolded them, "I don't know what you're worried about, I've been around him long enough to know he's not- dangerous," she stumbled over the last words, still guilty for what she had done.

"This doesn't concern y-you-you, junkman- woman-" Bertholt so nervously said, obviously stressed with the situation as beads of sweat dripped off his face.

Mikasa was by Sasha's side, giving off an intimidating stare to all but Annie.

Armin was beginning to hope his plan was working; the townspeople watched on in awe as he stood in his gigantic friend's hand. He smiled down at everyone, hoping this really was going in their favor.

Annie stood there, cool and collected as she was seemingly calculating something. Before there was a chance for  
Armin to notice, she shouted, "NOW!"

There was a blast of air and Eren screamed not long after; it sounded horrifically similar to the night in the woods. The titan stumbled as he yelled, causing the smaller to have to regain his balance as he looked behind Eren. His eyes widened further as he saw a group of 6 long cables connected to Eren, presumably cutting into his skin.

He didn't have too much time to take everything in but saw that the cables came from soldiers down below.

Armin had never seen the special gear in person before. He had heard of it in the news and talked about from classmates, but never understood its purpose. Scaling terrain didn't seem that important of a military objective. Now though, the equipment was eerily fit to take down someone as large as Eren.

The townspeople were already scattering from the second Eren roared in pain. The whole squadron of soldiers began moving as well to get ready and secure the titan, or possibly kill him. Armin and Eren's friends were immediately pushed away and barricaded off by a group of soldiers despite trying to break through.

The three officers below separated as well, directing and watching each side of Eren's attempted capture.

Meanwhile, Armin had looked up and yelled to Eren. "RUN!!!"

Eren grunted and cupped Armin as securely as he could. He yelled and growled as he tried to break loose from the cables in panic. The six cables connected to his back ripped out. He withstood the pain as he dashed forward, jumping over the barricade the army vehicles had made.

"GET THOSE CABLES OUT!" Annie yelled as the soldiers scrambled to shoot out more of the piercing wires.

"FOLLOW IT! DON'T LET IT GET AWAY!" Reiner barked out, jumping onto one of the vehicles as it sped toward the titan.

Four more were shot from the pursuing vehicles but were missed as Eren's distance ahead of them was increasing. The sound of them piercing through the air was enough to keep him running faster each second.

Eren shielded Armin; his number one priority was to keep him safe. The smaller tried not to get disoriented from the shaking and only barely managed it. It was hard to see anything in his confined space but he attempted to keep a look out as best he could; holding on tight to Eren for both comfort and security.

At the town, Mikasa and the others were struggling to get past the armed soldiers. Mikasa finally pushed through with more force than no one but Armin knew she was capable of and walked up to the closest officer, Annie.

"This is insanity- you can't do this!" She almost growled at the blonde woman. She scowled at her and though she was much taller, Annie stood where she was with a cold unmoving expression against Mikasa's sinister one.

"We've been very lenient with the fact that we could easily have you all arrested, don't mistake my calm demeanor for peace," she said back with an icy voice.

"You're ignoring the facts, you moron!" Came a voice from behind Mikasa, Sasha ran up beside her to give the officer a piece of her mind, "He's only scared! If you would just listen-"

"This is all your fault, junker-" Annie spat back at her, "if it wasn't for you, we wouldn't have to deal with the situation now. Enabling a child to believe in such a ludicrous dream is-"

"Would you shut up and listen!" Sasha yelled, causing Mikasa to grab her arm to keep her grounded.

"I am wasting my time with you," Annie responded coldly. She turned away to look towards the direction the asset ran and brought up her radio phone. "The giant is in your position, be at the ready."

Mikasa and Sasha looked at each other in horror before they both ran along back to their car, attempting to find Armin and Eren before whatever was going to happen did.

The titan made it to the beginning of the forest, only to be cut off by another group of military vehicles. He evaded their cables as well, maneuvering to the right as he ran along the perimeter of the forest.

Armin continued to try and not get too disoriented. He looked through Eren's hands to see the forest trees zipping past them. For a moment he was hopeful they could evade the vehicles chasing them.

"Stay away from the forest, Eren! It'll be easier for them to catch you!" He called out loudly. He heard a grunt of confirmation as Eren kept his distance from the forest they ran alongside.

The small chance of relief was short-lived, as Eren was met with another vehicle barricade. He jumped over this one as he did with the others, holding Armin close. The smaller could hear the heavy heartbeat and rapid breathing.

However, a different weapon was utilized just as Eren was about to land his jump. larger cables with weights at the end spun around his ankles, causing him to trip and tumble.

Armin was unaware of what exactly happened, it all happening much too quickly. The world turned and turned and turned and before he could react there was pitch black.

When the weighted cables were caught around Eren, he went wide-eyed as his feet stumbled and he fell forward.

Though he did not realize it, the army had planned for him to run this way. His fall to the ground turned into a fall down a cliff; leading to a much lower part of the terrain. He tumbled down the gigantic cliff, pain searing him as he was cut and bruised. He ignored it all as he looked down at his hands, holding onto Armin with all the willpower he had. He held him tight against his chest as he tried to shield him from the incoming impact of the ground below.

Then it went dark.

From above the cliff, Annie appeared as she drove up to the radio call location she had been talking to. The officer next to her waited for orders.

She looked down at the Titan knocked out below, steam billowing from his many injuries.

"It's not dead. Get me down there now to get back our asset."

"Yes ma'am," the soldier said. They climbed into her vehicle to drive the long way down.

Eren groaned weakly, blinking the gentle snow away from his eyes. He took a few seconds to gain full consciousness.

After the seconds passed, he gently moved his hand on his chest, feeling it empty. He shot up, picking up his other hand that laid against the snow before looking at both in panic. He looked all around him for his friend.

Then he saw that a couple of yards away lay Armin, unmoving with his back against the snow. He surged forward, still not standing as he moved with his knees, one hand coming down to prop himself up.

He waited a couple of seconds for any response, his heart beat hard in his chest as a look of worry was on his lipless face.

No response. He shakily moved one hand to gently nudge his friend awake.

Armin still laid there, lifeless.

"Armin-"

Flashbacks to the deer played in his mind, horrible things rushing into his head. His eyes welled up with tears that burned away before they fell as his whole body shook with despair.

It burns with fear.

His hands were balled up into fists pressed against his face, the grief causing more pain than anything he had felt before.

It burns with anger.

He sat there crying, hunched over Armin's body as he mourned. He couldn't protect him. He couldn't- he's- _dead._ No more dreams, no more friendship, no more anything. So many things were rushing into his head. The mist turned into a storm. So many thoughts, feelings, everything. It was too much.

Military Vehicles followed Annie's lead as she had the driver stop a few yards away.

Too much. It burns.

"Cables at the ready!" She commanded, the soldiers aimed their cables.

_Their fault._

The fury of a grieving monster. The fire of rage. It all took over.

The fists against his face slowly lowered as solid glowing eyes appeared. He took deep, growl-like breaths and shook with the ferocity of a creature who lost everything.

He turned backward with quickness as he stood up at the same time, reaching his full 50-feet to face them.

Annie was taken aback for a moment before quickly regaining her composure, "Fire at will!"

Immediately after she shouts, Eren let out a roar that shook the earth beneath them all. The pure blood-chilling fury of his roar was enough for a couple of soldiers to get cold feet.

The cables shot by the few who did fire were ripped out quickly by Eren as he growled with madness. Endless steam poured from his mouth with drool like a feral animal. He roared again, running forward.

Annie watched as the creature surged to wreak havoc. She pushed the driver out of his seat as she took control, driving away back to the town where Reiner and Bertholt were waiting.

The titan destroyed everything in his path. Soldiers jumped out of the various vehicles as he punched and tore into anything he could get his hands on. Vehicles were thrown, exploded, and obliterated within mere moments before Eren watched Annie drive away before chasing after her.

Mikasa and Sasha finally managed to find where the two had ended up. The mayhem of it all caused them to be later to their destination. Sasha drove recklessly to where Armin and Eren had fallen. She slammed the break when she saw Armin's body laying on the snow floor.

Mikasa took no time to run out to him. "Armin!? ARMIN!"

Like Eren, he took a moment to fully gain consciousness. After a small groan, he mumbled out weakly, "... Eren ..."

Mikasa sat him up as she hugged him tightly, breathing a sigh of relief as tears threatened to fall.

"Wh... where...?" He struggled out, holding onto Mikasa without really realizing it.

Seconds later, his eyes went wide and he pushed back from her embrace, "Eren!" he looked around for him, "Where's Eren!?" He started to panic.

Mikasa kept him still, trying to keep him from moving too much and hurting himself any further. "Armin- please listen-"

"What happened!?" He struggled more.

"He-" Mikasa began.

"He got up- we don't know what happened, we just saw him run off without you," Sasha explained as gently as she could, though the voice itself was that of panic, "It looked like he destroyed vehicles- maybe people."

Armin took a sharp intake of air. The words hit him like a blow to the stomach. Eren couldn't- _wouldn't_ do that. "N-no... he can't have-"

Mikasa grabbed him by both shoulders, "It's like the thing before- isn't it? There's more to it than we think, you know him more than us, but what we saw can't be denied."

"I- but-" he didn't know what to say. Too many things were rushing to his head all at once. He wanted to deny it, he wanted to try and find the actual reason behind all this but more than anything the need to go back to Eren was stronger. "Please- we need to get back to him!"

"Armin! You fell down that cliff!" Sasha pointed to where he and Eren tumbled down, "We need to get you to a hospital!"

"No! They're gonna kill him!" He argued.

Sasha didn't know what else to say. She looked to her car, then back to Mikasa and Armin. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath before opening them back up. "Get in the car."

 

\---

 

"IT'S COMING BACK AND IT'S NOT HAPPY," The blonde woman barked through her radio phone to the other two lead officers.

Annie sped up towards the main street of the town where most of the soldiers were. The newly formed barricade had to quickly make way for her as she pushed through them without a second thought.

Drifting to a halt, she jumped out of the vehicle to officers Bertholt and Reiner.

"CABLES READY!" Reiner called out.

The furious titan took no time to come up right behind Annie's trail. He roared out and shook the ground as he ran straight toward them.

"FIRE!"

20 or so cables shot out, all hitting Eren in his blind rage. The titan screamed and roared and thrashed before the cables were pulled too hard that he was restrained to the ground. Steam and blood escaped him as he continued to roar

Annie spoke first, "These aren't going to hold it long! Get the sedatives!"

Soldiers with large rifles aimed at the titan, waiting for the command.

"EREN!"

The titan jerked back with unexpected force as he saw a small human step outside of a vehicle from far behind the barricade.

_gone gone gone_

_he's dead he's dead he's dead_

_their fault their fault their fault_

With a blood-chilling roar, he ripped all the cables from his body. Blood spilled everywhere as he kicked nearby machinery and transportation. The rifle-equipped soldiers were thrown unconscious with many others before they could make the shots.

Armin stared in horror as Eren's wounds poured blood and steam. Seeing his friend being so overtaken with rage was also heartbreaking, he didn't want Eren to go through this or do anything he knew Eren would never actually want to do.

Armin surged forward only to be stopped by Mikasa and Sasha's firm grips. "Armin no! It's too dangerous-" Mikasa said in a panic.

"I can reach him!"

"What about the army!?" Sasha questioned.

"I CAN'T LET HIM DIE!" He yelled back. "Please- let me try," he begged. If he could make it there without struggling then he would prefer it that way, though he knew he was going over there no matter what.

Mikasa got teary-eyed before looking to Sasha and nodding. The brunette let go as Mikasa looked back to him, "Go."

Armin squeezed her hand to show his thanks before running off to Eren.

The titan was throwing more vehicles to the sides of buildings and against the ground. Blood still spilled and steam still poured. The titan began tearing into buildings too as the blindness of rage and fire took over him. Rubble was shattered like glass against his fist as he let out thunderous roars and growls and hisses. Drool dripped from his mouth and his eyes still glowed intensely with fury.

The officers ran off with the assumptions their vehicles would be soon all destroyed. Reiner told Annie and Bertholt to take cover behind a still intact building wall as he ran towards one of the broken cable canons in an attempt to work it.

Eren stood up in full height as he roared once more up into the snowy sky. Sorrow could be heard like an angry animal in pain.

Then a call from below echoed in his ears. The furious titan whipped his head around with a growl as he located the call.

Armin coughed as the smoke and debris clouded his vision. He called out to Eren again despite being faced with his angry growl. "Eren! Please listen-"

The titan now completely faced Armin as tears streaked down the smaller's face. He let out a warning hiss.

"P-please Eren!" Armin called out- terrified. Not of the angry titan, but rather the thought of losing him. "It's me..."

Eren roared at him and clenched his fist, raising it up slightly.

"EREN!" He yelled again, desperate. "You have to fight this- not- not everything else!" He stumbled; his emotions were too intense to form coherent sentences completely. "They think you're a monster- but you're not! You're- you're-" anytime else he would notice the pounding in his head from the crying, "You're my best friend!"

Eren's eyes were still glowing fiercely as steam escaped his mouth; still growling lowly. He raised his hand further.

Armin stood his ground, bracing himself, "I promised I'd keep you safe and I'm going to hold it- but-but you need to help me!" His hair was disheveled and dirt covered his face; tears still falling. "Eren... please... we have so much to see together..."

"Our dreams..."

Then the air changed around them. Armin watched as Eren's breathing changed- and ever so gently, his eyes faded back like finding a lost friend through the mist.

Eren looked at him with heartbreak and terror; letting out a cry. The guilt he felt was immeasurable and adding the pain he still felt from thinking Armin was gone just added more to his agony. He was confused, shocked, relieved, scared, angry, and so so many more emotions that were all over the place. His eyes welled up immediately as he let out his cry of guilt and pain.

Armin put his hands up quickly, "It's ok, it's ok!" he said as gently as he could as he called up to Eren. It was ok; he would be sure to comfort Eren's guilt and torment with his love.

The larger leaned down on his knees as he bent down to quickly reach Armin's level. The smaller met him immediately, placing desperate hands against his nose.

"Oh, Eren!" His tears continued to fall intensely, "I was so worried I-" he looked around, remembering the people against them all around them mere minutes ago. "You- you took out all their weapons..." he looked back at his friend, "But they're still going to go after you! We- we need to show them you're good-"

"Won't.. help.." Eren interrupted.

Armin was left taken aback. "Wh-what...?"

Eren looked at him with a sadness in his eyes yet with fondness there too; a bittersweet face.

He gently nuzzled his nose against Armin. "Want me... dead. Won't stop. Won't leave... they hurt you." Eren explained.

Armin's heart started to beat quicker than it already was despite barely having enough time to calm down. "What are you saying-"

Eren let out a soft sound, placing a finger to touch Armin with an overwhelming fondness. Armin briefly closed his eyes at the touch; placing his hand over Eren's finger. Then Eren told him, "Go see the world."

Armin's eyes went into a shocked terror as he watched Eren pull his hand away and lean up.

"Eren! NO!" He ran towards him, only to be stopped by Eren's hand. Eren frowned as he picked him up to quickly place him on an elevated piece of broken concrete wall.

"What are you doing!? STOP!" He begged him.

"EREN!"

Eren looked at him one last time as he thanked the universe for letting him be with someone like him.

"Eren I- I love you!"

The titan turned around to face the lone officer by the canon, still trying to get it to work. He walked closer and closer and growled at him to get his attention.

Reiner saw him approaching and panicked to get the system working. Eren's footsteps came closer and closer as he eventually appeared through the mist and smoke.

In the last moments, Eren thought about Armin and everything they experienced together. Their dreams, their friendship, their love... To hear Armin say that was enough to keep him content and happy. He was not a monster.

One final click and the gigantic canon was functional. He looked at Eren and spat at him, "So much for keeping a worthy asset-"

Eren replayed his thoughts of Armin and his gift of love and friendship- and smiled as he dived towards the canon.

Armin finally climbed down the giant piece of concrete and as he just barely hit the ground: he heard it. The sound of a canon and then the silhouette of Eren's body falling backwards towards his direction.

The impact of the fall caused a huge tremor that tripped Armin to the ground. He stared on with his mouth agape with terror and sorrow; tears streaking down again.

He pulled himself up after a few moments in trembling movements. Slowly, he walked onward towards the body. He was shaking, already wracked with grief and too much in shock to properly respond.

Steam was everywhere- more than he had ever seen before. Then upon seeing Eren, he let out a choked breath followed by a scream of a cry; falling to his knees in front of him.

The titan's face was a mangled, bloody mess that laid on its side. 3 large cables with harpoon-like ends had shot straight through it. The rest of his body was in no better shape- the giant wires made a morbid scene of the titan. He was maimed by god knows how many wires- mutilated to the point where there were more muscle and blood than there was normal skin.

He sat there as he cried and cried at the top of his lungs. The officers were nowhere to be seen, even the canon was now abandoned. They presumably left after killing innocent blood- to go back in hiding and pretend this never happened.

Armin couldn't even think about that then and there. All he thought about now was his friend, his best friend murdered and mutilated in front of him just so he could keep the officers from hurting Armin. He didn't want to see the world without Eren, he didn't want to follow their dreams if Eren wasn't there to share them with.

"Eren..." Armin whimpered after what seemed like an eternity of loud and harsh crying. He shut his eyes tightly as the burning tears fell down by his clenched fists.


End file.
